Blog Post 1.2 - "Local Govts & Devolution"

1. Trump supporters want to crack down on sanctuary cities, since they think cities should cooperate with federal immigration policy,C whereas sanctuary city residents see their cities as necessary to fight against aggressive anti-illegal-immigration policies that they disagree with and voted against.
2. Chesterton means local control of economic and political decisions. This meant local control of government, opposition to imperialism, criticism of big business and monopolies, and patriotism. 
3. Typically, conservatives favor devolution, whereas liberals view it with suspicion.
4. Liberals have started to advocate for devolution of power to cities rather than states, since they hold the most power in urban areas. Giving more power to the cities allows progressives to attempt policies that could not be implemented at a national or even state level due to their lack of support outside of progressive groups. 
5. Local areas have very different views on abortion, and attempting to provide one federal ruling on it leads to the local areas that disagree with it basing their entire political agenda on this one issue because of the fundamental disagreement on abortion's morality, leading to gridlock on that issue and little involvement with others. Whereas morality dictates that if something is right, it is right everywhere, politics dictates that something can be wrong in one place and right in another. 
6. Certain federal statutes and rulings already give certain powers to the federal government which would need to be given to the states. Also, basic institutions such as the electoral college or the shape of the states are not likely to change, which tend toward gridlock, polarization, and presidential empowerment. Basically, there are already too many powers given to the federal government that supersede local policies. 
7. The people in conservative states would push back if certain policies were changed, such as a reduction in Social Security or a removal of pollution regulation, as these people rely on these policies for success in various ways. In addition, if people did not support local policies, they would just move somewhere where they agree with local decisions.
8. People will be happier, since their locality will have policies that represent their values, but it will also force people to come up with more realistic policies once the more extreme proposals have been attempted and failed.
9. Conservatives have to support progressive areas' right to self-governance even if they disagree with their policies, because otherwise they will not truly be supporting the devolution of powers and will appear to be hypocrites when it comes to other issues. 
10. It means that you might be personally horrified by the choices of other localities, but because of the principle of self-governance you cannot do anything about it. This can be painful when policies contradict your morals.
11. The same problems that were apparent under the Articles of Confederation, probably. The United States would devolve into a collection of loosely-connected governments that refused to cooperate, only furthering the divide, but along less defined borders, since blue urban areas will reside within red states. Local areas will get policies they agree with, to be sure, but that does not preclude conflicts with other localities in other areas, specifically in economic or political ways. 

Blog Post 1.1 - "Interest Groups - ACLU"

1. The ACLU advocates for first amendment rights, specifically the right to free speech, regardless of what the content of this speech. 
2. The ACLU came to the legal defense of Jason Kessler, one of the organizers of the rally last weekend, when the city of Charlottesville attempted to revoke his protest permit. The ACLU felt that this violated his first amendment rights, especially since the counter-protesters still held their permit. 
3. Liberals tend to back the ACLU because of its vow to hold Trump's administration legally accountable for its actions following his inauguration. 
4. The ACLU says that it is important to protect free speech for everyone because it prevents the government from choosing to suppress whatever it disagrees with. Decades ago, the government sought to prevent the public protest of civil rights activists, and protecting first amendment rights regardless of the speech itself is necessary to preclude this happening to speech that is necessary for positive social change similar to that of previous years. 
5. The article raises concerns that allowing free speech for these groups would legitimize their views, letting them grow stronger and spread their ideology. Eventually, these groups may call for a restriction of free speech, and the public will let them do it. 
6. The first instance was when the KKK wanted to rally in Skokie, Illinois. The town was mostly Jewish, and the town and lower courts tried to stop the event from happening. The ACLU, however, defended the KKK's first amendment rights to rally. Luckily, the KKK did not go to Skokie.
7. The ACLU itself disagrees with Yiannopoulos's views, but since they contend it is his first amendment right to speak them they have to defend them. Some people say that his language is so hateful and is placed in a context of an accepting world that it reaches the level of incitement, if not a higher level of criminality. Although his speech is awful to just about everybody, the ACLU still fights for his right to say it, which can be seen as harmful to the groups Yiannopoulos attacks.