Rakestraw - AP GOV blogs

1. Why do conservatives want to hold this event at Cal-Berkeley? They want to lay down a marker at what they regard as a center of intolerance for conservative views. And they probably expect some disruptions that will, they hope, discredit their opponents. 2. What is the initial position a public university should take when they get a request to host a speaker? “Sure, in principle. But we have to think about some things before we can sign off on this.” 3. What are "content neutral" rules? Rules that apply to any group, disregarding what a particular demonstrator is going to say. 4. In what ways might there be conflict between school officials and the group requesting to speak over the site of the event? There’s a lot of misunderstanding about what public universities and cities can do when faced with requests to use their facilities for demonstrations, particularly when officials reasonably think the events might turn violent. The people requesting the use of ...

1. How popular were Clinton and Trump compared to past candidates for president? They were the first and second least popular nominees compared to past candidates. 2. How much did minor party voting increase from 2012 to 2016? Stein nearly tripled her support to 1.06 percent from 2012 to 2016 and Johnson more than tripled it to 3.27 percent. Evan McMullin, who basically only ran in Utah, got a larger share of the vote in 2016 than Stein had gotten in 2012. In 2016, the third-party vote made a big difference in the aggregate. 3. How did Clinton's negative attacks on Trump, combined with minor party candidates, end up hurting her? Instead of voting for Clinton, many voted third party, ultimately hurting her. 4. How did Trump compare to Romney in 2012 among white voters? Romney had 59% of white votes while Trump had 58% 5. How did Clinton compare to Obama in 2012 among the different groups of nonwhite voters? She did worse; Clinton had 82% of black men to 87% with Obama, 94...

1. What percentage of Americans voted in the 2012 election?  What percentage of registered voters voted in the 2012 election? There were 241 million people of voting age, but only 130.2 million actually cast ballots in the general election, which make the turnout rate 58.6 percent! In the 2012 election, around 84 percent of registered voters cast a ballot. 2. How do state requirements to register ahead of time prevent people from voting? The reason this prevents people from voting is because have to remember to register, often in advance, and the rules vary from place to place. Minnesota allows you to register on Election Day. In North Dakota, you don’t have to register at all. But in many other states, you have to register well in advance, which causes a huge problem because plenty of people seem to forget. 3. What reason do most people give for not participating in the election? Many people simply say that they weren’t interested in voting at all, or disliked the candidate...

[Blog 3] Alec Mueller - DACA 1. Why is President Trump  taking action over Labor Day Weekend? Trump is taking action over Labor Day Weekend because he needs to make a decision over whether or not the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will continue to exist before September 5th, which is when Republicans have planned to sue over its constitutionality. 2. Who was the DREAM Act intended to benefit? The DREAM Act was intended to benefit children who had crossed into the United States illegally, and would otherwise not be granted citizenship because of it. 3. What did DACA do to help these same people? DACA offered DREAMers a temporary grant of protection from deportation and a permit to work legally in the US. 4. What requirements do people have to meet in order to be eligible for DACA? To apply for DACA, immigrants have to have come to the US before 2007, and have been 15 or younger when they arrived and younger than 31 when DACA was created in June 201...

[Blog 1] Alec Mueller - ACLU 1. What exactly does the ACLU advocate for? The ACLU advocates for the full protection of the first amendment. They feel that no matter how offensive or bigoted your views are, you have full right to speak them. 2. How did the ACLU get involved in Charlottesville? The city of Charlottesville attempted to revoke the protest permit of one of the white nationalist's, which the ACLA found unconstitutional. The US District Court Judge ruled in agreement with the ACLU and allowed the nationalist protests to continue as planned. 3. Why have liberals increasingly backed the ACLU in the last year? Liberals have increasingly backed the ACLU because the ACLU pledged to hold Trump's administration accountable in court for its actions. 4. What argument does the ACLU make about governments and free speech? The ACLU argues that free speech must be protected for all people, even if they are largely in the minority with their views. E...

[Blog 2] Alec Mueller - Devolution and Localism 1. What are the two sides in the argument over "sanctuary cities"? One side of this argument consists or Trump supporters, most of which want to crack down on these "sanctuary cities". The other side of this argument is mainly made up of the residents of these "sanctuary cities", who see it as extremely important to resist aggressive anti-illegal-immigration policies. 2. What does Chester mean by "distributism"? Distributism is a political and economic philosophy articulated by G.K. Chesterton. Distributism argues for distribution of economic and political decision-making to very local levels. Chesterton interpreted this as local control of government, opposition to imperialism, fierce criticism of big business and the monopolies of the day, and a ferocious patriotism. 3. How do liberals and conservatives tend to feel about devolution? Devolution is usually associated with and supported by ...