Matt Beat

Oklahoma and Texas Compared

Which is better? Oklahoma or Texas? 

I like them both, but I gotta say, Oklahoma doesn't have Austin, which is one of my favorite cities period. 

Plus, Buc-ee's. Enough said.

Thank you for your continued support!

Score Voting Explained in Less than One Minute #shorts

Episode 3! 

STAR voting is up next!

The Interstate Highway System Explained

It's always a joy when I get to film on location. About 30 miles west of my house is the very first stretch of Interstate highway ever paved, so I just had to film it there, although a State Trooper drove by and looked at me very suspiciously, probably because I was indeed (accidentally) trespassing on land. 

Regardless, it's a fun video. It's also a collaboration with InterstateKyle, so don't forget to check his channel out!

Thank you for your continued support!

What Was Watergate?

UPDATE: I made a mistake in the other video. I'm sorry. If you commented or liked the old video, it's now gone. They were good comments, too. Dangit. 

I remember having a hard time wrapping my head around this scandal when I was learning about it for the first time (after first coming across it watching Forrest Gump, of course!). It does get complicated, but hopefully I broke it down well enough. My goal is that American history teachers will find this video useful in the classroom...

We've Lost Nuclear Weapons

I can't recommend highly enough the book Command and Control by Eric Schlosser. It's what inspired me to make this video. Also, ya know, the whole Russian invasion of Ukraine thing. 

We are living in crazy times, and it's important to know about all of the missing nuclear weapons. 

Every First Lady in American History

A special shout out to MY first ladies. My daughters, Lydia and Reegan, and my perfect wife, Shannon (Mrs. Beat). They made appearances in this video, and it was fun recording with them. Hopefully my daughters run for public office one day, but as of right now they certainly DO NOT seem that interested.

Don't forget, March is Women's History Month. I don't feature women enough on my channel, but I have a goal of getting much better about that in the future. 

Thank you for you...

History Teachers Look at Old History Textbooks

This one was literally months in the making. I recorded around 7 hours of footage and cut it down to 48 minutes. 

I doubt this video actually does that well, but it was a labor of love. It's my first true historiography video, looking at the history of how we studied history, and through the lens of American history because of course! However, in this video, I just focused on the content. The historical events the books actually describe and how they describe them.

To narrow ...

Approval Voting Explained in less than one minute

Episode 2

What do you think about approval voting?

Why did the American Political Parties Switch?

I'm proud of how this one turned out. However, warning, there is some offensive language in it. 

Many have requested that I cover this topic over the years. I'm glad I finally was able to cover it. Hopefully I did an adequate job.

Thank you for your continued support. I hope everyone has been safe and well.

Ranked Choice Voting Explained in 60 Seconds!

This is first of a four-part #shorts series looking at Ranked Choice Voting, Approval Voting, Score Voting, and STAR voting. All are far superior to the plurality (first past the post) voting system we have in the United States and many other parts of the world now.

It's time for voting reform. Spread the word if you agree!

Iowa and Nebraska Compared

A shout out to my Iowa folks who are Patreon supporters. Gael, I brought up Pella!

This was a fun one. I even drove up I-29 to Iowa and Nebraska to film, although I ended up not using much of that footage. I obviously know these two states very well and have been to both dozens of times. Well actually, I lived in Nebraska for nearly four years so there's that. Go Mavericks!

The next American Compared series will likely be Oklahoma and Texas, so stay tuned for that. Thank you for...

Which Presidents Are Related?

This one was part of a trilogy! A collaboration with Usefulcharts and Geneavlogger. Also, next Monday is my big updated Presidential Tier List with Vlogging Through History. 

Happy early Presidents Day, and thank you all for your continued support!

Why We Will Always Be Politically Divided #shorts

I basically wanted to make a video explaining the difference between civil rights and civil liberties, but I think more people will watch based on the title. :)

So there you have it. Pretty much all of political science summed up in less than 1 minute.

Thank you for your continued support!

Is the President Above the Law? | United States v. Nixon

Supreme Court Briefs is back. Which case should I cover next? FYI- I have a big Watergate video planned for March as well. 

Thanks for your continued support!

#shorts return. This one is about North Korea!

I figured I might as well and post this here today, too. It won't go live until next Monday, though!

Every President's Favorite Food

I definitely get a little too excited about that banana in this video. But a shout out to my daughter, Reegan, for throwing a banana at me several times. 

This was a fun and silly one, which was a nice change of pace!

Which presidential-themed video should I do next? Also, catch Vlogging Through History and I on Presidents Day for a livestream combining our Presidential Tier Lists!

Thank you for your continued support.

Australia and New Zealand Compared

It's time to go Down Under! I sure do love these two countries, and hopefully I'll get to visit them someday. 

I meant to get this out to you all yesterday, but the sponsor wanted me to make some changes to the video. I will be making this live later today. 

It's a collaboration with a young YouTuber named Liam who runs a great channel called State of the World. Check it out and subscribe! He seriously makes good stuff.

Thank you for your continued support!

Why the U.S. Senate Rarely Passes A Law

Looking back at my spreadsheet of video ideas, I apparently first wanted to make this video EIGHT YEARS AGO. Glad I am finally getting around to it, and I only wish I released it sooner to show Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin since I'm not sure they're aware of the U.S. Senate filibuster's history.

Do you support the filibuster? I give my opinion at the very end of the video, but I'm curious as to what you think.

Anyway, I plan on livestreaming myself calling every U.S. Senator in ...

Can You Survive Getting Hit By A Car? #shorts

I'm going to post this in a few hours, but figured I'd give you all a look first. In case you hadn't noticed, I've been branching out with these shorts, and also posting them to TikTok!

Also, if you didn't know about my brother and I's channel, Zany Time, well...now you do. 

A Brief History of Led Zeppelin

I apologize. I meant to post this early to Patreon supporters, but simply got caught up with a bunch of work and forgot! Anyway, this video went public yesterday on my second channel. I figured a lot of you might be interested. :)

Try Insightful out!

Hey again. Sorry for the second message today, but I've been asked to pilot an exciting new educational video app called Insightful, and the creator of it said you all could be "trial users" to test it out to see if you like it. 

It's completely free. You just enter code "MRBEAT" to try it out.

Here are the links:

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta...

What the heck are "Western Values?"

Time and time again, I've heard this phrase: "Western values." And while I mostly knew what The West is, I did NOT know what "Western Values" exactly were. However, over time I grew to understand that it was a phrase increasingly used in more sinister ways, and it indeed has become a dog whistle to folks to promote xenophobia and nationalism, two things which I despise. Therefore, I thought making this video was necessary, especially since apparently no one else has. 

One final not...

The First Gay President in American History? #shorts

Beginning next week, I am making it a goal of mine to release at least one new Shorts video a week to YouTube and TikTok (the same video), beginning with this video. I'm hoping it will continue to give my channel momentum like I gained in December. 

I have a question for you. Do you actually watch shorts on YouTube? Maybe I'll put up a poll here. 

Anyway, this one goes live on Monday. Thank you for your continued support!

Beijing and Shanghai Compared

Happy New Year! And Happy (early) Chinese New Year while we're at it, since I've finally gone to China with my Compared series. Well, not actually gone there. You know what I mean. Oh, and I almost forgot I made that Hong Kong and Macau video way back when. That seems so long ago. 

Anyway, the end of the year is a good time to reflect, of course, and I again want to thank you all for your generosity. It's because of you that I get to make these, and nothing makes me happier (other ...

It's A Wonderful Life 101

Here is my complementary video to my Christmas video. I'm going to publish it over on my other channel, The Beat Goes On, later today. I wasn't joking when I said I cry watching this film. Even as a 40-year old man, this movie continues to inspire me each time I watch it. 

Again, Happy Holidays!

Why Christmas Is So Freaking Popular

So I found out through researching for this video that there really was a War on Christmas. I also found out that most of the Christmas traditions we love today are fairly recent, like only going back 50, 100, or 150 years. 

I've been busy lately, but plan on taking a bit of a break in January. Believe it or not, I have a lot more planned for 2021. Stay tuned!

Thanks for your continued support, and Happy Holidays!

Arkansas and Missouri Compared

Hey all, I would have had this one to you sooner, but the sponsor was not getting back to me. I will make this live this afternoon.

I am VERY familiar with both of these states, and have been to both many times. Hopefully I didn't get over confident making it. lol

Next week I'm planning a Christmas video in case that holiday is of any interest to you. :)

Thank you for your continued support. 

Why George Washington Is Still My Favorite President

So why didn't I make this epic George Washington documentary sooner? I didn't have the time, but also I was a bit afraid to make it, to be honest. I was afraid it might be too difficult to tackle. I know this may sound weird, since there are sooo many books and videos about him, but that is precisely the problem. I worried about not having anything new to say about his life that was substantial, and I also worried about making this as balanced as possible. I also had to address the slavery pa...

How Every American President Died + their last words

For some strange reason, I constantly think about death, and I have been wanting to make this video for a long time. After the recent success of my President videos, I figured I better go ahead and release this. Hopefully you are not getting sick of all my President videos. :) Also, what do you think of the glasses I picked out?

Thank you for your continued support!

Belgium and the Netherlands Compared

I want to thank Hilbert from the channel History with Hilbert for helping me and collaborating with me on this one. He is British but of Dutch descent, so he especially paid close attention to the history portion of my script and the pronunciations. In fact, I went ahead and had him record some pronunciations in the actual video. :) Anyway, please also check out his video looking at how and why Belgium broke away from the Netherlands. 

I've decided that the next American state Comp...