Rahul Sharma's AP Govt Blog 1.2
We conservatives champion local power. So we must respect the rights of “blue” cities.
The two sides of the argument over sanctuary cities are the Trump Administration and the residents of the cities. The Trump Administration wants to "crack down" on the sanctuary cities. The disagreements about how to be governed are growing.
In defense of liberalism, Chesterton came up with “distributism,” which aimed for decision-making to be taken care of at local levels. This devolution will bring power back to the states. This devolution essentially meant local control of government, with less interference from the federal government. Devolution of powers is usually associated with conservatives.
Nowadays, however, liberals would probably support devolution. When thinking of our current president, it seems logical to devolve and bring power back to the states and away from him.
The author uses abortion to bring up the desires of the two groups. Both want a federal law to reflect their views. However, with a federal law forcing everyone to act in one way is a recipe for disaster. The main problem with federalism is the voting process. The author states that Millions of voters condition their entire vote on whom a candidate will appoint to the Supreme Court, and not much else matters.
The unwillingness to give up powers is what prevents local governments from solving more questions locally. Also, many activists prefer federal laws, so that their views will be enforced everywhere.
A large proportion of the conservatives are older people, and it is very unlikely that they will give up Social Security and medicare. And, if the people do not like the rules, they are free to leave the state, and those who remain agree with the law and will vote for its continuation.
If states were able to have more varied policies, policies would probably vary greatly from state to state, reflecting what is best for the particular state, without regards to the national needs.
The author argue that conservatives should end their opposition to sanctuary cities, because 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.
True federalism is painful because it allows other people around us to do things we think are terrible, and we can do nothing about it.
If more local governments had more control over policy, I believe the states will abuse powers until eventually, the states will lose a sense of national unity and revert to a confederacy.
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