Now This News: 'What If Fox News Covered Donald Trump The Way It Covered Barack Obama?'

Source:Now This News- The world of Sean Hannity, is like a planet in itself.

Source:The New Democrat

"What if Fox News covered Trump the way it covered Obama? It would look like this:

Imagine if Fox News Channel reported Trump news today like it used to report on the current events of President Obama's administration. US news today is as splintered as ever. When it comes to politics news, President Trump prefers Fox News over CNN TV, and right wing media like Fox News prefers him back. This NowThis News videos shows what it might look like if Fox News dropped its media bias on air to accurately report on Trump today and the current White House. How would Fox News report on the affordable care act, health care, and the justice department in this twilight zone? What would Sean Hannity say about Trump? The Trump Obama media split continues to have long lasting effects.'

Source:Now This News

Just on a personal note: you get to see Kirsten Powers in the first part of the video when she was at Fox News up until I believe 2016. If you watch Anderson Cooper or Don Lemmon on a regular basis on CNN, ( which I'm sure Fox News viewers see as part of the enemy of the people ) you know that she's one of their regular political commentators now and hopefully life is a lot better for her where she no longer has to worry about being the only Liberal and being stuck in between two right-wingers wondering what the hell is she doing here. You also see Mary-Catherine Ham, who is part of an endangered political species in America known as Conservatives, who is part of the Never-Trumper wing of the Republican Party, but never afraid to take on Far-Leftists either. If you watch Jake Tapper especially The Lead everyday, you know that she's now one of CNN's political commentators as well.

I believe the video says itself, but I as a blogger I feel a need and duty to say what I think about so-called Fox News. ( Which almost sounds like an Oxymoron to equate Fox with news at this point )

What would it be like if Barack Obama inherited the exact same economy that Donald Trump did as President, with the same professional and personal background that The Donald has, the same personal character ( or lack of character ) that The Donald has, the same record, personal behavior that The Donald has, making the exact same, the worship of authoritarians, ( whether they're left-wing or right-wing ) the same inability to confront authoritarian regimes where he might or does have business interests in, even though he's now President, and the rest of the irresponsible actions and statements that President Trump has made in just two years, if this was the record of President Barack Obama in his first two years, how would Fox News cover him:

Well, to start and House Republicans did win back the House after the the first two years of President Obama and if he had the exact same record as President Trump and inherited the exact same economic and world conditions as President Trump, House Republicans would've impeached President Obama by now, unless there were 20-25 vulnerable House Republicans saying that they're not ready to vote on impeachment yet. And Fox News would be demanding that the House impeach the President even if they knew it had no shot in hell at going anywhere in a Democratic Senate. And any House Republican that steps up and says they're not ready to vote for impeachment, the Sean Hannity's of the world would be calling out those Republicans on the air and perhaps giving out their phone numbers, emails, and even home addresses, and trolling the hell out of those Republicans.

Fox News, at some point in 2016 whether it was Roger Ailes or someone else at Fox News made the business decision that they're in bed with Donald Trump regardless of what he does and is accused of and they'll do whatever they can to defend him, just as long as President Trump and his administration sticks with the Far-Right and continues to push their agenda. And every time that President Trump either publicly kisses the ass of a dictator or orders one of his deputies to commit illegal acts ( which are in the Mueller Report ) they pretend that those things never happened, blame it on Barack Obama or play what about. That's just the situation that we're in right now when it comes to cable news and FNC's role in American media.

The Daily Signal: Fred Lucas- Rallies: 'What's The Legacy of The Tea Party?'

Source:The Daily Signal- "Then-Representative Mike Pence, R-Ind., addresses a tea party rally March 16, 2010, near the Taft Memorial in Washington, D.C. Pence, now vice president, was an early supporter of the decade-old movement. (Photo: Douglas Graham/Roll Call/Getty Images)"

Source:The New Democrat

"It was Tax Day 2009 when citizens gathered in 850 cities across the nation for tea party rallies protesting the recent $700 billion federal bailouts of banks and automakers, an $800 billion economic stimulus package, and, more broadly, government deficits and debt.

On April 15 this year, Tea Party Patriots, one of the largest tea party groups, will sponsor “Stop Socialism, Choose Freedom” rallies across the country.

On the movement’s 10th anniversary, the phrase "tea party” is seldom used, but organizers there at the beginning say the spirit and principles continue—even as the country continues to face mounting fiscal challenges.

One reason tea partiers aren’t “outside protesters” today is that many of the citizens who never before had been involved in politics rose to prominence in the Republican Party. "

Read the rest at The Daily Signal

"10 Year Anniversary of Tea Party Patriots"

Source:Tea Party Patriots-  Jenny Beth Martin: Chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action.

From Tea Party Patriots

To completely honest here, ( for a change, LOL ) when the Tea Party first started during the spring or summer of 2009 after Barack Obama became President with large majorities in Congress ( House and Senate ) the Obama Administration and Democratic Congress was working on health care reform after passing their stimulus, during last stages of The Great Recession, I as a Classical Liberal ( the real Liberals ) had a mild respect for what was called the Tea Party.

If there were any Republicans at all that were concern about President George W. Bush's and his Republican Congress's borrowing and spending, it was these hard core fiscal Conservatives. Who didn't like borrowing 700 billion dollars to expand Medicare. Who were concern about all the borrowing that they were doing for Afghanistan and Iraq. Who didn't like Federal Government's increase role in public education with No Child Left Behind Law. Who didn't believe the two Bush tax cuts from 2001 and 2003 would ever pay for themselves. The problem that they had and that the rest of the country had was that there weren't simply enough of them in Congress to stop the Republican Party's borrow and spending during the Bush Administration.

I still had a mild respect for the Tea Party movement during the first two years after Republican won back the House in 2010, because the national debt and deficit were huge issues for them. Without the Tea Party Caucus in the House, the budget deficit that was already a trillion-dollars when Barack Obama became President, doesn't get cut in half during President Obama's term. Because the Obama Administration weren't interested in those issues for the most part. They were concern with economic and job growth and getting the economy back to full recovery and not believing that you can do that while doing deficit reduction at the same time. It was the Tea Party that gave us those real budget savings and reforms in 2011 that allowed for the deficit to come during the final five years of the Obama Administration.

But go back to 2013 and ever since, the Tea Party or whatever is left of it is nothing more than the hard-core, rabid and hyper-partisan wing of the Republican Party, that only seems interested in winning elections and electing as many Republicans as possible. And they don't care what they have to do to win those elections including voter suppression and intimidation to prevent young Democrats ( especially ) from voting in competitive elections. And they'll do anything to win including working with foreign nationals to get dirt on their opponents, or throwing out their conservative constitutional principles like having to do with fiscal conservatism, limited government, the rule of law, checks and balances, morality even. ( Death to the family family values Republican Party ) Today the Tea Party, is nothing more than part of Donald Trump's Far-Right Nationalist base, along with The Heritage Foundation and that's where whatever respect that I ever had for them dies and won't come back.

C-SPAN: Q&A With Brian Lamb- Amity Shlaes: Calvin Coolidge

Source:C-SPAN- You could probably call Amity Shlaes, the official historian for President Calvin Coolidge, as well as the President of the Calvin Coolidge Fan Club, because you'll have a harder time finding a bigger fan of Calvin Coolidge, than Amity Shlaes. 

Source:The New Democrat

"Our guest is Bloomberg syndicated columnist and author Amity Shlaes. She discusses her soon to be released biography of the 30th President of the United States, titled "Coolidge." She traces the life of Calvin Coolidge from his early days in Plymouth Notch, Vermont through his presidency and ultimate return to New England where he died at the age of 60."

 From C-SPAN

 Neoconservative supply siders ( let's say ) like to point back to President's like John Kennedy and Calvin Coolidge as references to argue for their ideas when it comes to taxes and economic freedom and say that President Kennedy and President Coolidge cut taxes across the board deeply and say that it worked then and those taxes paid for themselves, so it would work again. The problem is that they leave out several key points and facts.

 The U.S. Government even if you account for inflation would be 59 billion dollars today back in 1928, because we didn't have the public safety net that we have today and our defense budget and responsibilities were nothing like they are today in the 1920s. America, was an isolationist country and if people fell on hard times and weren't independently wealthy or had a lot of savings, they were completely dependent on public charity or their friends and families to get through those rough times. We weren't a world power yet at least in foreign affairs. Our current Federal budget is over 7 trillion dollars, because we have such a large military and safety net programs like Social Security and Medicare that are in the hundreds of billions of dollars just by themselves.

 And the other thing supply siders get wrong about President Coolidge, is that he cut the budget to pay for his tax cuts. President Lyndon Johnson when he and Congress cut taxes across the board in 1964, they paid for those tax cuts by cutting loopholes in the tax code. When supply siders cut taxes whether it was President Ronald Reagan in 1981 or President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003, they cut taxes deeply across the board, while increasing Federal spending as well. President Reagan, in defense and in law enforcement. President Bush, in the military, the so-called War on Terror, as well as education and in entitlements with the Medicare prescription drugs program. And both those President's ran large budget deficits during their entire presidencies, because their tax cuts obviously didn't pay for their new Federal spending.

 Cutting taxes to expand economic growth, create jobs, and expand economic freedom is an legitimate argument and point of view, but if that's your approach approach to economic policy, you need to be knowledgeable and honest enough to know that tax cuts by themselves don't pay for themselves. Especially when you're cutting taxes primarily for investors who put that money away instead of spending it. President Calvin Coolidge, was a true fiscal Conservative because he didn't want a large Federal budget, he wanted taxes low, but when he cut taxes he made sure those tax cuts were paid for by cutting spending, so he wouldn't run budget deficits as President. Which is what supply siders don't seem to even know about President Coolidge, or don't acknowledge those facts about him.

The National Review: Kevin Williamson: 'The Nationalism Show'

Source:The National Review- "President Trump greets supporters at a Make America Great Again rally in Wheeling, W.Va., September 29, 2018."

Source:The New Democrat

I think Kevin Williamson nails what a Nationalist is in this paragraph here:

"To the extent that 2016 vintage nationalism has produced a policy agenda at all distinguishable from the old Republican stuff, it is anti-capitalist and anti-liberal: in favor of trade restrictions and suspicious of big business, especially banks, anti-immigration, anti-elitist, longstanding tendencies to which American populists from William Jennings Bryan to George Wallace and Ross Perot have been stubbornly attached. That these represent an orientation toward the actual national interest is not obvious: Tariffs function mainly as a sales tax on American consumers and as a crutch for certain U.S.-based firms that wish to be protected from foreign competition. There is more to a nation than its economy, but markets are national institutions, too, and far from the least important of them. Hostility toward these does not serve the nation, even if it serves the interests of some of the nation’s people."

From The National Review

From Wikipedia

"At a rally for Sen. Ted Cruz in Houston, President Trump said a "globalist" is a person "who wants the globe to do well, frankly, but not caring our country so much." He went on to say there is an "old-fashioned" word that he embraced: A "nationalist."

From CBS News

Source:CBS News- President Donald Trump: in Houston Texas last year. 

"Nationalism is a political, social, and economic ideology and movement characterized by the promotion of the interests of a particular nation,[1] especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining the nation's sovereignty (self-governance) over its homeland. Nationalism holds that each nation should govern itself, free from outside interference (self-determination), that a nation is a natural and ideal basis for a polity,[2] and that the nation is the only rightful source of political power (popular sovereignty).[1][3] It further aims to build and maintain a single national identity—based on shared social characteristics such as culture, language, religion, politics, and belief in a shared singular history[4][5][page needed]—and to promote national unity or solidarity.[1] Nationalism, therefore, seeks to preserve and foster a nation's traditional culture, and cultural revivals have been associated with nationalist movements.[6] It also encourages pride in national achievements, and is closely linked to patriotism.[7][page needed] Nationalism is often combined with other ideologies, such as conservatism (national conservatism) or socialism (socialist nationalism) for example."


Let's be clear: ( to paraphrase Bernie Sanders ) nationalism and patriotism are not the same things. A Patriot is someone who loves their country and what it stands and what the people stand for and believe in. The national values that his or her country believes in. A Nationalist or Tribalist loves their corner of the store ( so to speak ) their faction of the country, the people that they share common political, cultural, religious, ethnic, and racial values with. People who look, talk, act, have a similar if not identical lifestyle as they do. Donald Trump, is not a Conservative or a Patriot: he's a Nationalist and if there is anything at all you can that you can take his word on it's that he's a Nationalist. He's proven that ever since he not just started running for President back in 2015, but you could go back to 2011 when he championed the birther movement.

If Donald Trump loves anyone other than himself, it's his family ( perhaps not his wife ) but I'm willing to grant that he actually loves his kids. And perhaps he loves his voters and supporters in the media that basically serve as his Office of Propaganda and the Trump Information Agency. What's called Fox News is the closet thing that we've ever had to state-run media in America and hopefully we never any closer to that. But Donald Trump doesn't love America and what America stands for. He doesn't see America as the beacon on the hill the shining city on the hill. ( To paraphrase Ronald Reagan ) He doesn't believe in pluralism, liberal democracy, checks and balances. He believes that he can do whatever he wants simply because he's Donald Trump and the President of the United States. Which is how we know that he's not a Conservative and even a Republican at least in the sense as someone who believes in Republicanism.

American Enterprise Institute: Welfare Reform- Why? (1976)

Source:American Enterprise Institute- Paul MacAvoy: member of President Gerald Ford's Council of Economic Advisers. 

Source:The New Democrat

"May 20, 1976: This AEI Round Table brings together four experts to discuss whether major modifications are needed in the American public welfare system. Why have welfare costs skyrocketed in recent years? Do these rising costs prove that our welfare machinery is defective? Are there more efficient and more equitable ways to provide for the nation's poor? Can our present programs be improved by minor changes or is a sweeping overhaul required? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the negative income tax? And can proposals to reform our welfare system win political acceptance?

Panelists:

Wilbur J. Cohen — dean of the School of Education at the University of Michigan

Barber Conable, Jr. — Representative (R-New York)

Paul MacAvoy — a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers

Abraham Ribicoff — Senator (D-Connecticut)

Moderator:

Robert Bork — solicitor general of the United States

Host:

Peter Hackes"

From American Enterprise Institute

This is the perfect debate that we should be having now today especially when we now have Socialists and socialism on the rise in America in and outside of the Democratic Party, who believe that people shouldn't be forced to work and not just that, but that we should even pay people ( meaning taxpayers ) to not work and pay them well if they choose not to work. Even if they simply don't want to work and would refer to stay home and collect a public assistance check. When what we should be doing instead is not just encouraging low-income and low-skilled Americans to not just work, but get a good education so they can get themselves a good job and not need any type of public assistance at all to pay their bills.

I'll give you just one example of why Progressive is different from Socialist and why Progressives are different from Socialists, and why progressivism is different from socialism, even though there are many of examples of why these two ideological factions are different. And they're not the same political faction with just two different labels. That Conservative is actually different from Libertarian, Theocrat, and Nationalist. And that Progressive is different from Socialist and Communist.

Welfare and poverty in general are the perfect issues to talk about when you're talking about what it means to be a Progressive, because if you're actually a Progressive you believe not just in progress, but creating progress through government action. So if you have a large population of poor people in your country and have a lot of poverty and you're a Progressive, you want to see some progress there. You want poverty to go down dramatically assuming you can't actually eliminate it altogether. Instead of having people in poverty with a public assistance check and other public assistance checks which was the system before the 1996 Welfare To Work Law, you want to actually move people out of poverty and no longer be eligible of public assistance, simply because they make too much money and no longer live in poverty.

I'm not saying that solving the poverty issue in America is easy because if it were it would've solved in the 1960s and we no longer have 1-5 Americans who are eligible for public assistance whether they're working or not. But if we empower not just encourage, but empower low-income Americans to not just work, but to go to school and finish or further their education and even help them get themselves a good job after they now have the skills to get themselves a good job, you'll see poverty go down in America, because you'll now have a well-skilled workforce in your country and there would be no reasons for people to live in poverty, other than that they're lazy or perhaps just irresponsible and simply don't want a good education and a good job. But those people we shouldn't be subsidizing as taxpayers anyway and instead subsidize Americans who don't have what they need right now to live a quality, independent life, but want to be able to do that for themselves.

For people who view themselves as fiscal Conservatives, ( which seems to be a dying breed in Washington right now: fiscal Conservatives ) who are concern about the budget deficit and national debt, you should  be interested in not just welfare reform and welfare to work, because with a lower and low poverty rate in America, you would not just have more people working in America, but more people paying income and payroll taxes and fewer people collecting public assistance. And a lesser need for people to not just work to take care of themselves and their families, but to also subsidize people who either don't work, or work but don't earn enough money to take care of themselves and their families.

Today, we have a budget deficit and national debt that are too big, but we have an economic deficit as well that's part of the income gap in the country where we have too many people who are simply too poor to be able to support themselves in this country and as a result are dependent on both private and  public charity, and being able to work multiple jobs ( if they're working at all ) in order to support themselves.

These are all reasons why we should not only encouraging people who are physically capable of working at all, but going back to school and getting themselves a good jobs. These are all things that we can do with the current public assistance system in this country. Which would be great for our economy have 50-60 million more Americans with good skills and good jobs in this country. But long-term would also be much better for our fiscal outlook. But the best thing of all would be to have all of these people who now have good skills and good jobs.

Commentary Magazine: Abe Greenwald: 'Our Socialist Socialites'

Source:Commentary Magazine- The Democratic Socialists, as well as Hipsters of America, LOL!

Source:The New Democrat

"If there’s confusion about what socialism means in today’s America it should be cleared up by Simon van Zuylen-Wood’s recent article on the hip socialists of New York City. Socialism is mostly a scene—a loosely organized assemblage of youngish people who are connected by a shared aesthetic. That’s pretty much it."

Source:Commentary Magazine

"Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises

Socialist Socialite · Tricks & Sleeves

Locked out of Space"

Source:Tricks & Sleeves- Hum, I'm seeing a tiger on The Moon: now I know I'm high. LOL

From Tricks & Sleeves

It's not everyday that I agree with anything that is written by Commentary Magazine, except when they're critiquing both the Far-Left and Far-Right in America which is what they do along with National Review as two of the last of the great Center-Right publications in America, along with The Wall Street Journal and a few others. The reason why I'm on the Commentary email list is to see articles like this where Abe Greenwald compares the modern socialist movement in America with a social movement, I want to thank God ( even though I'm Agnostic ) for Commentary.

Source:Real Clear Politics- Yeah, right!!! LOL 

Comparing Socialists with Socialites especially younger Socialists is brilliant, because socialism ( however you define it ) is not just a political movement, but it's a social movement. And I mean social in the sense about people socializing with each other. not socializing businesses ( necessarily ) but people getting together for not just a common purpose, but getting together because they have a lot of things in common.

Source:Science Matters- Welcome to the modern New-Left 

And I'll give a great example of that: I'm paraphrasing and even rephrasing here, but it's the old expression that you're socialist when you're younger and somewhat naive, but as you get older and enter the real world in your career and you settle down, you get married, you have kids you become much more conservative ( in the classic and real sense ) especially with your own money and realize that those high tax rates that you were advocating for and even demonstrating for in your 20s, might not seem so groovy or awesome anymore ( depending on your era but now seem far out or far-left, pun intended ) and seem like they're too much.

And you realize that capitalism, is pretty damn good and is the reason why you have the good job that you have today, are able to own your own home, don't have to rely on the government for your news and information, are able to socialize and assemble with whoever you want, whenever you want, without fear of being locked up simply because of who you're socializing with, can afford to have and raise kids now, etc.

That we all grow up as a country as we enter our mid 30s and get even older and realize we all have bills to pay and if we don't want to be dependent on government or pay high tax rates for our economic survival, we not only have to work hard, but need to be very productive and good at our jobs. And the way to do these things is through the capitalist, private enterprise, liberal democratic order and world. Not by trying to overthrow the current government either through democratic or revolutionary means.

Whether it was the Hippies from the New-Left of the 1960s and 1970s or what was Occupy Wall Street from 2011-12, to the Bernie Sanders Movement of today, or the Beatniks from the Silent Generation from the 1950s we've always had at least since the 50s a movement of young hipster radicals who are the coolest and hippest people around, as well as the most politically radical as well, at least coming from the Left.

Hipsters who are not only devoted to their political causes ( until they grow up and enter the real world ) but who are dedicated to their social movement and culture and being the coolest person around who is always part of the current hipster wave if not on top of it. Who look down at people who hard for a living and are successful in life and just view them as part of the imperial, fascist capitalist regime. ( I'm a little rusty with my 1960s and 1970s New-Left vocabulary )

Socialism, has never just been a political movement and it's never just been a political movement in America either. The hippest people in America and outside of America are either Socialists or people who pretend to be Socialists, but in real-life are very wealthy and have made a lot of money for themselves who go out-of-their-way to avoid paying high taxes. And I'm thinking of the Jane Fonda's of the world and other so-called Hollywood Leftists who has been independently wealthy at least since the early 70s if not longer from her great career in Hollywood.

So-called Hollywood Leftists and other hipster Socialists have been around forever and just goes to my point that the coolest people around tend to be Socialists, not that they're aren't on hipsters on the Right: Libertarians, are a great example of that, but the coolest people around tend to at least officially view themselves as one type of Socialist or another. But along with Hollywood Leftists I tend to not take them very seriously and have much respect for them with Bernie Sanders and few others being exceptions to that.

Because again for a lot of these people being a Socialist tends to be a phase for them, but also the most left amongst us in America also tend to be the hippest and are in on all the latest trends  and in on all the latest fashion statements and if anything author those statements themselves whether it's clothing, new technology, coffee, marijuana, whatever it might be. All these great things that come from our capitalist, private enterprise system.

So-called hipster leftists are like the environmentalists who drives a SUV, or the animal rights activist who wears leather jackets and other leather clothing: I mean, who do they think there're fooling or even bullshitting. But Socialists have always represented more than just a political movement in America and outside of America and always will.

Federalists vs. Unitarians: The Great Debate About The Role of Government

Source:Slide Player- The first Federalists. 

Source:The New Democrat

"Federalism is the mixed or compound mode of government, combining a general government (the central or 'federal' government) with regional governments (provincial, state, cantonal, territorial or other sub-unit governments) in a single political system. Its distinctive feature, exemplified in the founding example of modern federalism by the United States of America under the Constitution of 1787, is a relationship of parity between the two levels of government established.[1] It can thus be defined as a form of government in which there is a division of powers between two levels of government of equal status.[2]

From Wikipedia 

“Would I Be a Federalist or an Anti-Federalist” 

Source:Scott Bradley- question for Scott Bradley.

From Scott Bradley

Source:CIMS Cougars- The first Federalists 

Federalism differs from confederalism, in which the general level of government is subordinate to the regional level, and from devolution within a unitary state, in which the regional level of government is subordinate to the general level.[3] It represents the central form in the pathway of regional integration or separation,[4] bounded on the less integrated side by confederalism and on the more integrated side by devolution within a unitary state.[5]

Leading examples of the federation or federal state include India, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Argentina, and Australia. Some also today characterize the European Union as the pioneering example of federalism in a multi-state setting, in a concept termed the federal union of states."

Federalism, is a big part of my own personal politics and how I describe myself politically. I just go with Liberal or a Liberal Democrat as someone who believes in liberal democracy, ( not the Democratic Party, necessarily ) but someone who believes in individual rights, limited government, separation of powers, decentralization of authority, equal rights and justice: the values that comes from a liberal democracy. I like the term Liberal-Federalist as someone who believes in liberal democracy, as well as the three levels of government: Federal, state and local, but who also believes in liberal democracy and again the individual and equal rights that comes from a liberal democratic federal republic.

From Wikipedia

"A unitary state is a state governed as a single power in which the central government is ultimately supreme. The central government may create (or abolish) administrative divisions (sub-national units).[1] Such units exercise only the powers that the central government chooses to delegate. Although political power may be delegated through devolution to local governments by statute, the central government may abrogate the acts of devolved governments or curtail (or expand) their powers. A large majority of the world's states (165 of the 193 UN member states) have a unitary system of government.[2]

Unitary states stand in contrast with federations, also known as federal states. In federations, the sub-national governments share powers with the central government as equal actors through a written constitution, to which the consent of both is required to make amendments. This means that the sub-national units have a right of existence and powers that cannot be unilaterally changed by the central government.[3]

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is an example of a unitary state. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have a degree of autonomous devolved power, but such power is delegated by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which may enact laws unilaterally altering or abolishing devolution (England does not have any devolved power).[4] Many unitary states have no areas possessing a degree of autonomy.[5] In such countries, sub-national regions cannot decide their own laws. Examples are Romania, the Republic of Ireland and the Kingdom of Norway."

A Unitarian state or Unitarianism ( not the religion, but governmental philosophy ) is the opposite of the federal republic. In a Unitarian government governmental power and in some cases like in a Communist state or Theocratic state, most power governmental and otherwise is centralized with the national government. And in some cases you might have a Unitarian state where you have state or provincial government's, as well as local government's, but where the head of state appoints the people to run the state and local government's.

The Russian Federation today which under their own Constitution is supposed to be a federal republic, but under the Putin Administration they now operate as a Unitarian authoritarian state where President Vladimir Putin is responsible for appointing the governor's of their republics, ( what Russia calls states ) instead of allowing the people in those republics to elect their own leaders. And every Communist state that you will be set up where the national government has most of the power and appoints the people to run the state and local government's, The People's Republic of China, is a perfect example of that.

But a Unitarian state isn't necessarily an authoritarian government. There are social democratic, as well as authoritarian Unitarian states around the world. The United Kingdom, which is one of the great democracies, as well as social democracies in the world is a Unitarian state. In recent years they've delegated more authority to their what we would call state government's. England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The Kingdom of Sweden, which is also a great social democracy is a Unitarian state. The same thing with the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of Ireland, and I could go on. See, like with Federalists and federalism where you don't have to be a Liberal or Conservative to believe in it, you don't have to be an authoritarian or democrat to believe in Unitarianism. You don't have to be Left or right either. It's just about what type of government you believe in and what's the role of the national government in your country that you want for it.