Governing is not boring at all!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Governing is not boring at all!

RuanGacho: Jun 20, 2002; "You're gunna break it!"

http://www.governing.com/

Every month I am given the thrills and chills of an exciting online and paper magazine! Every true statist needs to read Governing Magazine: The States and Localities.

This magazine covers just about every topic D&D finds interesting, except well, you know international stuff, it's US focused.

Stuff like: Yo Venice had a rough patch for portable water, but then they fixed it, 100 years ago!

Real topical stuff like: Immigrants don't cause crime you idiots!

Scott Walker is still a piece of poo poo

This Month's article on how now the left has a renewed interest in federalism

Here's a sample:

quote:

In this moment of wildly disruptive politics, it�s actually possible to see President Trump, California Gov. Jerry Brown, the 19th-century Sen. John C. Calhoun and folk singer Woody Guthrie all swimming in the same policy stew.

Just four days after Trump�s inauguration, Brown�s State of the State address took direct aim at the new president�s immigration policies. Brown pledged to �defend everybody -- every man, woman and child -- who has come here for a better life and has contributed to the well-being of our state.� Then he closed his speech by going back to his 1960s roots and quoting Guthrie�s classic. �This land,� he told legislators, �was made for you and me.�

Trump fired back, calling the state�s embrace of sanctuary cities for immigrants �ridiculous� and claiming that sanctuary policies �breed crime.� If California pressed ahead, it could expect to see a draining of federal aid. Scott Pruitt, at the time awaiting Senate confirmation as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, came in for a second shot by refusing to promise he would continue to give California the waivers it needed to operate the state�s tough environmental programs.

States have been challenging federal policy -- even sometimes threatening to nullify it -- for most of the nation�s history. Sen. Calhoun, representing South Carolina, championed such a nullification doctrine in the 1830s, when he attacked a tariff policy that he thought favored the North. He argued that, since the states had created the federal government, they could refuse to follow federal laws they disagreed with. The same arguments drove some of the fiercest civil rights battles of the 1950s and 1960s.

But this time, the winds are blowing from the left instead of from the right. Governors and mayors are pledging to do all they can to stop the Trump agenda. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is promising to use city hall itself as a fortress if necessary to defend all the city�s residents.

It�s a battle erupting on multiple fronts. In his State of the State address, Brown also said he planned to fight repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Then Brown pledged not to �give in to the climate deniers.� California, the governor said, was prepared to go it alone �to stop the dangerous rise in climate pollution.�

There�s the smoke rising from state legalization of marijuana as well. With the approval of a referendum last November, Maine has joined seven other states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington), along with the District of Columbia, that have approved the recreational use of pot. That could challenge Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who at his confirmation hearing was asked whether he would allow the states to continue ignoring federal marijuana prohibitions. Sessions danced delicately around the question, saying he �won�t commit to never enforcing federal law.� Sessions has since stated that he hasn�t yet decided whether or not to crack down on pot possession.

Marijuana is only one example of the deepening divide. On many issues the president cares deeply about, state and local governments have an important front-line role. Whether the Affordable Care Act can actually be repealed and replaced will depend, in part, on how much opposition comes from states. The fate of Trump�s immigration policy will turn to an equally large extent on states and cities, because the process of deporting illegal immigrants depends on what local police departments and courts do when they apprehend those without the proper papers. And the states will have a great deal of leverage over climate policy, especially if the federal government pulls back.

This, in turn, frames some fascinating questions. To what degree will federalism prove a bulwark against Trumpism? The president�s opponents would like to see Congress serve as a check on presidential overreaching, but the Constitution gives states much of that responsibility. So states that object to what Washington is doing will ramp up their research on the 10th Amendment -- using it as a weapon of the left instead of the right.

There�s a legitimate question of how much variation among the states the federal government -- and the people -- are prepared to stomach. If California and its Democratic counterparts march hard toward health insurance for all citizens, aggressive climate policies and protection of immigrants, how will the nation deal with states that take precisely the opposite position? This is not only a philosophical puzzle, but a very real policy challenge, since health-care issues, pollution and immigration pay no attention to state boundaries. Some states could prove magnets for people whose problems other states don�t solve -- and some states could end up with environmental problems that blow over entire regions.

In the nonstop narratives that swirled around Trump�s first months in office, these were questions that got little attention. But it�s a safe bet they�ll turn out to be far more important to the new administration�s legacy than the president imagines right now.

All in all, I feel like this helps me get informed and understand our world better, from the completely and absolutely correct view of minor government bureaucrats.

Here's some of the cover stories from the past year so you can get an idea of how cool and good this magazine is for highbrow internet knowledge:

quote:

PAST ISSUES
2017

April Can Road Rage Stop Colorado's Plan to Expand a Highway?
February 'Sanctuary Cities' Just the Start of Mayors' Opposition to Trump
January In Trump�s America, GOP States Proceed Cautiously Optimistic

2016

December Introducing the 2016 Public Officials of the Year
November Voting Technology Needs an Upgrade, But Who Will Pay for It?
October How Unregulated Dark Money Is Reshaping State Politics
September 25 Years Later, What Happened to 'Reinventing Government'?
August Can Counties Fix Rural America's Endless Recession?
July What Trump Means for State and Local Races
June How Obama Changed the Relationship Between Washington, the States ...
May Alabama�s One-Man Pension Show
April Beyond North Carolina's LGBT Battle: States' War on Cities
March How High Point, N.C., Solved Its Domestic Violence Problem
February While Homeless Veterans Get Housing, Rest Are Left in the Cold
January 2016�s Top Legislative Issues to Watch

All these issues can be read for free and there's more than what's published in the digital editions to digest too.

I am just a government worker who gets irrationally excited to read what is generally a punchline for boring magazines, infrastructure and policy. But I hope by sharing this here others can benefit too and gain some insight into how to better influence and help build a better society.

RuanGacho fucked around with this message at 05:29 on Apr 4, 2017

# ? Apr 4, 2017 05:20

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# ? Apr 23, 2024 21:41

Badger of Basra: Jul 26, 2007

I am also a government worker and read this magazine! It's good!

Here's a really interesting article about the guy who runs Alabama's employee pension system that's also kind of a primer on public pension issues generally: http://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/gov-alabama-david-bronner.html

# ? Apr 5, 2017 15:00

Badger of Basra: Jul 26, 2007

Here is a very bad article about how the billionaire that wants to gut public employee pensions just has their best interests at heart. :jerkbag:

http://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/gov-john-arnold-pensions.html

# ? Apr 6, 2017 18:05

RuanGacho: Jun 20, 2002; "You're gunna break it!"

Badger of Basra posted:

Here is a very bad article about how the billionaire that wants to gut public employee pensions just has their best interests at heart.

http://www.governing.com/topics/mgmt/gov-john-arnold-pensions.html

I'm not exactly sure how some of these get written, is it some sort of attempt to scare off people from government work because without the pensions the job has no justification for being below market rate pay?

# ? Apr 7, 2017 02:39

Badger of Basra: Jul 26, 2007

RuanGacho posted:

I'm not exactly sure how some of these get written, is it some sort of attempt to scare off people from government work because without the pensions the job has no justification for being below market rate pay?

According to her bio on the website the author used to write for a DC conservative rag. Also Governing is non-profit I believe, so maybe they get some money from his foundation.

And just smh at the disgusting public employee entitlement on display in this post. Next thing you know you'll want a cost of living increase greater than 1%!

# ? Apr 7, 2017 02:48

Zachack: Jun 1, 2000

RuanGacho posted:

I'm not exactly sure how some of these get written, is it some sort of attempt to scare off people from government work because without the pensions the job has no justification for being below market rate pay?

It's bizarre puff piece that didn't actually say anything other than some governments did a bad job by kicking the can down the road and that public employees don't feel compelled to solve it by doing... something. I expected at least some more easy shots at pension spiking but those never manifested. It says this guy is great but never says why. It touches on 401ks but no poo poo those aren't popular compared to a pension.

# ? Apr 7, 2017 04:54

Helsing: Aug 23, 2003; DON'T POST IN THE ELECTION THREAD UNLESS YOU JOE BIDEN

So this guy who (literally) made a billion dollars at Enron retired in his 30s and pledged to donate a large part of his money to charity. He's following through on that pledge by throwing tens of millions of dollars into a one man crusade to get rid of public employee pensions.

# ? Apr 7, 2017 06:09

Badger of Basra: Jul 26, 2007

Governing just tweeted this and the framing of the story is driving me insane.

https://twitter.com/GOVERNING/status/860962514393280512

# ? May 6, 2017 23:22

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# ? Apr 23, 2024 21:41

RuanGacho: Jun 20, 2002; "You're gunna break it!"

Badger of Basra posted:

Governing just tweeted this and the framing of the story is driving me insane.

https://twitter.com/GOVERNING/status/860962514393280512

I'm seriously thinking about writing an angry letter because I dont understand what the point of a clickbait story accomplishes.

"Gee why would government workers hate the last bastion of making their job possible to weather objectionable?"

# ? May 6, 2017 23:27

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Governing is not boring at all!