Public Policy Importance

The U.S. government’s expansive role in public policy is caught in a swirl of conflicting cross-currents. On the one hand, popular expectations about government’s

As discussed in Chapter 10, public opinion is vital to the progress of any democracy. Noted by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, “a just government must get its power fro, the consent of the governed.” This quote highlights the reality that without understanding the publics opinion, a democratic government will fail. This same theme is echoed in the beginning of America’s constitution. Starting with the phrase “we the people,” the importance of the opinions of the common man is made a priority. In this Chapter 10 summary, I will discuss both the importance and of public opinion and analyze whether public opinion is skewed based on certain factors.

Being two of the most respected and qualified academicians on public policy, Charles Murray, and Robert B. Reich have never been short of making controversial and contradicting statements which arguably serves only their interest of getting an audience. Public policy as it is has been subjected to lots of changes throughout the history leading to different reactions and opinions from different individuals. “What it means to be a Libertarian-A Personal Interpretation” written by Charles Murray, explicitly describes how the society should view the government by claiming it can help in achieving overall happiness and allowing members of the society to have a right to individual freedom when coping with the changes brought by public policy. On the other hand, Robert B. Reich’s “Aftershock the next Economy and America’s Future” talks about overcoming our problems by keeping a tier of classes. This paper discusses the contradicting views of these two writers.

The balance between the duty of the government, both on a state and federal scale, and the citizens’ view of freedoms has been a continuous struggle throughout the readings. Although many members of America’s youth believe that their participation in politics is aimless, public opinion and voting are very important aspects of shaping the government. Without certain civil rights being granted by the government, these important rights of expression and suffrage would not exist.

This is when the public has the chance to get involved in the policy making process.

Short Essay – Policy-making in the Federal System. The U.S. government’s expansive role in public policy is caught in a swirl of conflicting cross-currents. On the one hand, popular expectations about government’s responsibility to solve problems often exceed the capacity of state and local authorities to respond effectively. On the other hand, policies developed at the national level may not sufficiently reflect the great diversity of interests across the U.S. to be effective at the local level. Moreover, the search for effective policy is further complicated by theoretical debates about the constitutional framework of federalism, e.g., what limits on national power can be derived from the 10th Amendment?

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address defined the American government as an institution “of the people, by the people, [and] for the people”. Lincoln had an idealistic view of the government as an instrument for societal change. He, as well as the founding fathers, intended for the government to act in support of the people’s will or the majority rule. This democratic definition of the government has remained true throughout the course of American history. By placing all of its power on its citizens, the government itself did not decide the course of history but rather followed it. This follower mindset is seen through the government’s positive interactions with marginalized groups’ who in their attempts to overcome exclusion gained

The guiding principles driving public policy in America have dramatically changed since the founding, especially in terms of the proper role of government. What the Framers considered to be the appropriate power and scope of the federal government differs greatly from those who defended the New Deal. While both the Framers and the defenders of the New Deal cherished freedom, those in support of FDR’s legislation expanded the idea of freedom to include such things as the freedom from want. To implement this new idea of freedom, they required an expanded scope of the federal government, which they achieved. But neither system worked in the long run or even the short run, leaving America with a broken system in need of reform and the question

While it may be true that government institutions have the authority to pass a policy, the point often overlooked, is that the people on the political level have the say to whether they agree or disagree to passing a policy. The citizens of the United States lived on the principle that authority of the government is base on the consent of the people. If the consent of governing and participation of the citizens are ignored, we would fail to have a democratic government. People outside of the government are the ones who are expressing their concerns to the government and it is the responsibility of the officials in the government, to take actions of addressing the issues, resolving the issues, and implementing policies that cater to the majority of the people. Interest groups and unions who have the majority support from the citizens can have a stronger leverage in voicing their public opinions through social movements, voting campaigns, and elections that can lead for a policy to be put into place. As a result, executive officials are more likely to seek attention to those with popular support within interest groups or unions as a way to gain popularity in voting’s. Majority vote from the parties and groups have the say to what policy is needed to be address, passed, and implemented into the bill. It is essential that parties, interest groups, and unions are aligned and work together with government officials. Otherwise, if government officials commit tyranny, it could lead for an overthrow of the officials. Regardless of which political level to be the most powerful, it is essential to understand that public policy requires full cooperation and passionate efforts from all levels consisting from governmental, political, and

In the book The Net Government of the United States by Donald F. Kettl is an inspiring and at times radical look at our government and its day to day attributes to our society. The ways in which the government operates and the agencies it employs are examined through and through. The author makes many arguments for their failures and against the system itself. This all leads to an opinion and analysis of a way to fix the system. The power of the government to make decisions should be purely of their own right and if the American people vote for these people then they are the leaders. There is no way to accurately fix our system and the theories and conclusions drawn up by Kettl are intriguing, but there is room for more calculation.

Americans do not have the best record on participating in voting for elections or public policies. As a result, many public policy are change in the government. In addition, American do not have high political efficacy, which is a “citizens’ feelings of effectiveness in political affairs” (Barbour & Wright, 2015, p. 516). They do not trust their government to change if they would to vote. Thus, many American will not vote as they feel that their vote will not matter in the government. The low level of voter participation causes for policy to be change or renew, in which they citizen may not like, yet as they did not vote to keep in place or the same. Many policies are change to ideas that American do not like in their government. In all, even if the level of participation were to increase, there will still be an outcome of

Throughout times, democracy has emerged as the best political way to rule a country. Within democratic systems, citizens have to vote for people who will represent them in the decision-making system. The question that John Kingdon wanted to understand in his writing of How Do Issues Get on Public Agendas? is how the legislative process and the public policies are made. John Kingdon well illustrates the processes by which an issue becomes policy issue, named the Cohen-March-Olsen, and the coming together of three processes. In the Cohen-March-Olsen, Kingdon proposed three stream: problem-recognition, policy stream of proposals and political stream.

When making public policy decisions, policy makers must face a world with imperfect information and a finite amount of resources. Both of these realities put limitations on how effectively a policymaker can make people’s lives better off. Obviously, it is impossible for anyone to perfectly predict how a certain policy will play out when it is enacted. This includes policymakers, who despite their noble goals of increasing the well-being of society, can only make an educated guess about the effects a policy will have. Factors such as the fickleness of human nature or hidden information creates uncertainties that are hard to address when making policy. For example, in 1929 the causes of the Great Depression were not fully understood, but

To become a public administrator, you must have the ability to work with different people from different background, different age groups, and various economy classes. A Public administrator cannot be biased towards one group of people and turn around and be favorable towards the other. As an administrator, you have to be transparent to everybody that you encounter, even people that you will be working with, and people that you are working for. According to the publication, “Ethical Dilemmas in the Public Service,” by the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management, describes that the ethical issue that government officials face in any organization is nepotism and bias. The reason why this event occurs is that some of the individuals in the public administrative positions are not transparent in the workplace and are also influenced by personal gain.

Although our nation’s government relies on the fundamentals of liberal democracy, it still has many flaws. Articles written by Francis Fukuyama share a clear message suggesting that America’s political institutions are decaying and its flaws will not be fixed unless we have good leadership within the government that yields good policies. It is still not too late to make reformations in the system. Today, US citizens share a distrust for the inner workings of our government, and through the years, there are many things that must change. Although our government is able to withstand failures right now, it may cause an expansion of problems that will cost us indefinitely. The existence of interest groups has caused an exponential increase in the elite control of the system, thus creating people’s lack of trust for the government.