‘OMG WTF Does the Constitution ACTUALLY Say?’

Ben Sheehan joins host T.J. O’Hara on Deconstructed to discuss his new book, OMG WTF Does the Constitution Actually Say? – A Non-Boring Guide to How Our Democracy is Supposed to Work. You may think you know the origins of the “OMG WTF” acronyms, but you will have to listen to the interview to determine whether your assumptions are correct. Mr. Sheehan is a Funny or Die alumnus and an award-winning executive producer who has spent his career creating innovative and entertaining content in an effort to make politics more accessible. In 2016, he was Executive Director of the Save the Day PAC that used videos to register 50,000 young voters, and his various projects have received over a billion views. Mr. Sheehan discusses the importance of the “Preamble” with T.J. and provides an easy-to-understand overview of the first three Articles of the Constitution. In addition, he reviews some of the more salient elements of the Bill of Rights, including the Reconstruction Amendments (the 13th, 14th, and 15th) and the 19th Amendment. Ben and T.J. even discuss the presidential election of 1876, which is perhaps the most consequential election in our Nation’s history. If you do not know why, you need to listen to the podcast. Mr. Sheehan also shares insights into certain nuances of the Constitution as well as some of the “weird” subjects that it covers. It is a great primer on the Constitution at a time during which the teaching of Civics has gone by the wayside. Even if you think you know the Constitution, you are likely to gain additional insights from Mr. Sheehan’s book. If, like over 60 percent of our population, you lack an understanding about how our Government is actually supposed to work, Mr. Sheehan’s entertaining and straight-forward book can help close the gap… and his interview with T.J. is an excellent starting point.