NDNU Local Government Blog

 The question I am looking to address is simple, and has been explore many times over, due in part to its simplicity. Which level of government do people trust the most to handle crises as they emerge. A more academic way of phrasing the question is to ask, which level of governments capacity is trusted most by young people in Santa Clara County? The Manhattan Institute has a study that is very similar to mine which you can find here . It shows the Americans as a whole do in fact trust their local city government more. Gallup did a similar study in 2018, which will also be used to help me shape my questions, and inform my style of survey. It yielded a similar response as the Manhattan institute. You can find that here Finally Pew Research, one of the most established and respected polling firms in the world also has a similar study. Though this study was more aimed at checking the level of trust Americans have in the governmental system as a whole. This like the others will be u...

Governors during the pandemic The executive office of many states has become the day in day out, most important office for the people. How their state executive has chosen to deal with the pandemic has certainly had an effect on peoples lives. To that end, the pandemic has shown just how intense intra-state political rivalries go, even at the peak of a health  crisis.  Example 1: "Despite the difficulties in dealing with the legislature, most governors dominate the policy agenda, usually by working hand in hand with legislative leaders. The governor's influence begins with the State of the State address, which kicks off each new legislative session, and strong influence continues with the annual budget mes­sage." (152)  While this topic is not a direct reaction to the Pandemic, the make up of this years budget will certainly be influenced by Pandemic. Therefore I thought the unveiling of California's newest budget could serve as a perfect example of how a governor wor...

For today we are discussing changes made to state constitutions, and the fallout out from the process. For the life of me, I do not remember a state Amendment or Proposition as inflammatory as Proposition 8. "Prop 8" as it is known was was a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage that passed with over 52% of Californians vote. Background After multiple years the time for  argument and debate around the re Marriage Cases was over. On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled 4–3 that the laws directed at the LGBTQ+ are "subject to strict scrutiny and same-sex couples' access to marriage is a fundamental right under Article 1, Section 7 of the California Constitution." The court also found that two distinct statutes barring same-sex marriage in California, one enacted in 1977 by the legislature and the other in 2000 by state voters (Prop 22), were unconstitutional. Which in turn allowed for same ...

 As we read the very in-depth research paper on the evolution of the tea party, and pair it with our reading from the class text, we are left to wonder. What exactly is the American tea party now? What was it at its founding, and what does it say about the future of American politics? Having been a very conscious and political person involved since 2008 when I volunteered for then Senator Obama’s California primary campaign, the tea party has been a mainstay in my life. Being a student of history, I understand that backlash-especially white backlash to the first black president is to be expected. However, at no point during the first few years of the tea party phenomenon did I think that their voice or school of thought would grow to the volume it has. In the beginning the American Tea Party presented as it still does, thinly veiled racism mixed with conservative Republican values. The racism assertion is not debatable in my eyes given the footage of speeches given about President ...

 The blog requires access to a PowerPoint that is not available on either the class website or the class moodle. While I would reach out to Professor Andrews under even semi-normal circumstances, I feel it would be beneficial to all parties involved if I were to just move on.

 In the first page of the reading, the author fills out the CST definition of solidarity . A fundamental concept when attempting to understand how society operates, and the underlying mob/mass psychology at play. The author reasons that interdependence is not only a necessary fact but also a massive value to society. The base of solidarity seems grounded in the success of humanity such as our great architectural monuments, that took great thinkers to engineer, strong people build, and wiser ones to maintain. They then used this concept as a block to talk about two other major concepts found with CST. These are The Common Good and Participation. See that solidarity or the interdependence of one another leads to caring about the common good. They defined the common good as the understanding of the importance and value of goals beyond personal. Solidarity and the common good build on each other, because a community practicing solidarity would naturally be working towards the common g...