Issues in California and Politics

Overview
Write a 3 to 4 page, double-spaced, 12 point font paper on your former Town Hall Meeting group project. Although we are not having our town hall meeting as originally planned, many of you had already started exploring the issue that your team selected, and some of you had started to research your component of the research brief. This substitute paper will ask you to continue with the work you’ve already started, and to build that work into a paper that will provide an overview of the issue you’ve selected, and the potential solution for the political or policy-related challenges that you personally find most compelling.

Details
Each of you has already committed to writing a section of the team research brief: demographics; conservative views; liberal views; politics; solutions. You can focus your paper on one of the topic areas – homelessness; the environment; or public health – around your former individual assignment. If you prefer to focus on a different individual assignment, that’s perfectly acceptable.
Begin with an introduction to your team project, and then use your focus to help you explore it in some depth. Finally, each of you will write about a political or policy solution that you find compelling, explaining it in some detail and arguing for why this is a good solution for the challenge you’ve identified.
Resources for your research are still available off of our titanium course site, under the Town Hall meeting section. Please be sure to use these.
ALL PAPERS should use citations and a work cited page. This can be formatted as you wish – MLA, APA, etc. Just be sure you are consistent and that you format it correctly using the format you’ve selected.

What follows is a more detailed guide for you as you write this paper:
Introduction (1 page):
a) What is the issue that your team/you have selected? Why is it an important issue? What is the current status of it?
b) If it’s a “problem” (causes of homelessness, costs of unauthorized immigration, etc.) – describe the current understanding of that problem and any major disagreements about it (i.e. criminal enforcement of drug policy vs. providing treatment)
Your focus (1-2 pages):
Choose 1 of the following and write 1 – 2 pages on it, relating your chosen focus to the introduction you’ve written.
1. Demographics
How many people are affected by the problem or are likely to be affected by the proposal? Who are they – economically, race/ethnicity, geographic location, etc.?

2. Conservative views – in detail
How is the problem or policy viewed by leading Republicans and conservatives (positions of the Republican National Committee; conservative interest groups and think tanks; positions and statements of leading conservative politicians on this issue)? What is public opinion on this issue, among conservatives (look at polls)?

3. Liberal views – in detail
How is the problem or policy viewed by leading Democrats and liberals (positions of the Democratic National Committee; liberal interest groups and think tanks; positions and statements of leading liberal politicians on this issue)? What is public opinion on this issue, among liberals (look at polls)?

4. Politics
What is the potential for getting a policy reform implemented on this issue? In addressing this question, you should think about past efforts at reform (recent political history), the impact of the 2016/18/20 elections on this, the partisan divide in Congress (House and Senate), public opinion on the issue, etc. NOTE: you don’t have to do ALL of this – these are just suggested considerations. You should determine HOW you can evaluate the potential for getting a policy reform done on this issue).

Also, you may wish to consult with your group members researching Republican and Democrat group positions – But even if you don’t, try and look at the existing views of leading Republicans and Democrats so that you can determine if there is any room for compromise or not?

5. Solutions
While everyone will be writing about one solution that they personally prefer, your job is to provide an overview of the most prominent policy solutions for your team’s issues, advanced by both the Republican and Democratic party leaders. Describe the most far reaching proposals, the middle-range proposals (in terms of cost and overall technical and political feasibility), and things that can be done easily right away. AS you describe these 3 levels of solutions, be sure and explain why you consider these as “far-reaching”, “middle-range”, or “easily implemented”.
Your preferred solution and conclusions (1 page):
In this last section, reflect thoughtfully on the issue you’ve been writing about. What do you feel is a good policy or political solution to address this important challenge and how would this solution address the issue effectively? You can choose any solution you’d like, including something that you feel would be nearly impossible to achieve in the near term. In any case