1.2 "Local Govts & Devolution"

1. What are the two sides in the argument over "sanctuary cities"?
            The two arguments are that we should either resist aggressive anti-immigration policies or support them.
2. What does Chester mean by "distributism"?
            He argues for the distribution of economic and political decision-making to very local levels, which means spreading power away from the national level to the local level.
3. How do liberals and conservatives tend to feel about devolution?
            Conservatives generally favor more devolution while liberals advocate for ma stronger federal government.
4. Why do liberals find themselves increasingly supporting devolution?
            Liberals find themselves increasingly supporting devolution, especially to cities, because they hold a lot of power in cities
5. How does the author use the abortion issue to explain problems with federalism?
            The author uses the issue of abortion to demonstrate problems with federalism by explaining that since both parties want a federal victory over abortion rights, but there is no federal agreement over this right, so many voters base their vote based solely on this single issue. It would be easier to reach a consensus on this issue at more local levels using devolution.
6. What prevents the local governments from solving more political questions locally?
            Local governments cannot solve problems more locally because on many issues such as abortion, parties want to win at the national level.
7. Why does the author argue that conservatives would not really make drastic cuts to social programs?
            The author argues that conservatives will not actually make drastic cuts to social programs because they cannot forget about all of the people in the cities of those states who are liberal and could leave if they don’t agree with certain policies.
8. How would people be likely to respond if states were able to have more varied policies?
            If states have more varied policies, and they pass policies that do not help or target certain groups of people, people would just leave and go to a different state which they believe has better governance, and those states will grow in political and economic power.
9. Why does the author argue that conservatives should end their opposition to sanctuary cities?
            The author argues that as long as conservatives support state preemption of localities, whenever localities embrace liberal causes, they will have no credibility in advocating for devolution of powers on other matters. 
10. What does the author mean by "True federalism is painful"?
            The author means that in federalism, many people are unable to do anything even when policies that they disagree with get passed.
11. What do you anticipate would be the biggest problem if more local governments had more control over policy?
            The biggest problem would be that people would just begin to leave the state they live in to go to a state which supports policies that they support.

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