All politics are local.

• Position: List - Brief article

When newly minted University of Pittsburgh graduate Giles Howard started the Publius Foundation in 2010, he wanted to keep things local. The student-run think tank, which focuses on state and municipal government, has published policy briefs on issues such as local courts, college students' rights, and city gun ordinances. reason asked Howard for three reasons why young libertarians Giles Howard should focus on local issues.

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1 Libertarian positions on local issues are often easy to identify with. Most people don't intuitively empathize with libertarian arguments regarding monetary policy. But most young people I know instinctively share basic libertarian positions on local issues--agreeing, for example, that food trucks should be able to operate freely and that police shouldn't be able to arrest someone for recording them in public.

2 Local issues have a constant, concrete...