Blog Post 1.6 "Free Speech Week"

1.The organizers of the event seem to want to provoke leftists at a center of leftism into behavior that will reveal their hypocrisy.

2. A public university should not deny a speaker or organization's request and also begin to consider logistical and scheduling concerns (unrelated to the content of a proposed speech).

3. An event organizer cannot be denied based on the content of speeches, the reason for a denial from the university has to be applicable to any organization. After rejecting a proposal, the university must provide an alternative.

4. A university may be unable to provide the preferred location, and the speaker may accuse the university of silencing an unfavorable opinion.

5. The speaking group may be responsible for the cost of security that it can afford.

6. The university/city is expected to pay.

7. The speaker cannot call for immediate law-breaking.

8. The crowd can jeer loudly enough to drown out a speaker.

9. When the police are overwhelmed by a violent crowd, they may shut down the event.

What Happened (with the voters)

Trump and Hillary were perhaps the least liked presidential candidates in US history. As a result, Stein and Johnson tripled their share of the votes. This increase in voting for minor parties sapped votes away from Clinton, whose efforts to portray Trump as an ineffective and dangerous leader failed to persuade Americans that she herself would make a good President and instead boosted votes for third-party candidates.

Trump was not quite a novel champion for whites; he received one percent less of the white vote than  Romney. Similarly to Trump with Romney, Hillary won the majority of non-white votes, but lagged behind Obama's performance in 2012. College graduates tended towards Hillary more so than Obama, perhaps due to an increase in college-educated white support.

By the end of the nomination process, both parties had chosen candidates Americans were familiar with and disliked, an unusual occurrence. However, most pundits and the media did not correctly predict which candidates would be unpopular with which groups. Non-whites that voted for Romney showed solidarity with Trump while Hillary lost some of the female support that Obama won during his election despite being a historical-first female candidate.

Blog Post 1.4 "Why People Don't Vote"

56.8% percent of Americans voted in the 2012 election, and 84% of registered voters voted. Often, Americans forget to register because of the limits on registration time. They may also be indifferent about the election until the last moment, when it is too late to register. The majority of the nonvoting electorate, however, stays indifferent about the election and candidates, unwilling to form an opinion.

Those who grow up poorer and with fewer American roots are less likely to feel that their vote will count because unfavorable circumstances make them think that no change is possible and there is no community expectation of civic responsibility.

Furthermore, America has too many elections that most voters can't keep up with. As a result, Americans may be desensitized towards democracy and carry out a streak of non-voting because of defeatist attitudes following a previous failure to vote.

The lack of choice when it comes to party affiliation may also dissuade American voters, who increasingly have unique sets of values, from being able to choose one party over the other. Parties encourage those who vote reliably (those who care about an issue on which a party takes a different stance from the other) to turn out but focus less on the rest of Americans, who may choose the other side despite the parties' efforts.

Oregon has been experimenting with mail-in votes to make voting more convenient, but some focus more on making elections more fun by having election festivals. While this may increase voter turnout, the task of evaluating candidates may devolve into selecting the most fun party to attend, and considering the increasing disability of the average American to listen to views contrary to their own, voting festivals will likely become segregated along ideological lines, furthering political polarization. These festivals would also risk simply becoming last-minute rallies for candidates, where formerly unenthusiastic voters are cajoled into uninformed decisions through alcohol and manipulative social interactions.

Of course, the United States can simply enact mandatory laws and rely on the desire in Americans to follow the law, even when enforcement is lax and there is only a minor punishment.

Blog Post 1.3 "Trump & DACA"

1. Trump has rushed to change DACA since some Republican officials have threatened to sue the federal government over it.

2. The DREAM act was similar to DACA in trying to help illegal immigrants brought into the United States as children by streamlining the citizenship process for them.

3. DACA protects DREAMers from deportation and gives them a legal work permit.

4.Arrived in US before 2007, were 15 or younger when they arrived, younger than 31 in June 2012, nearly spotless criminal record, and enrolled in high school or have a high school diploma or equivalent

5. The DREAM act was rejected, but DACA was passed in its place to offer some protection to DREAMers.

6. They cannot sign up for financial aid because they have no Social Security numbers. Knowing that they are illegal may compel some to drop out of school.

7. They lose motivation, feeling that their identity will prevent them from reaching success.

8. ?

9. DREAMers are still illegal immigrants, but their presence became lawful.

10. They found better jobs with higher incomes than non-DACA illegal immigrants.

11. They are suing for DACA to be changed.

12. No new applications for DACA will be accepted, although DACA status may be renewed for some time. As the protection expires, deportation will pose a threat to the geographical location of illegal immigrants.

13. DACA collected a lot of information about addresses and other personal information.