Domestic Policy

The protection of health is one aspect of the national government's responsibility to promote the general welfare.

A. Americans regard AIDS as the nation's "number one" health problem.

1. In 1990, the national government spent $2.9 billion on AIDS research, treatment, prevention, and income-support programs.

2. In addition to current programs, another way the government can intervene is to require HIV testing. Although a majority of Americans support this idea, such testing might prove counterproductive and result in discrimination.

3. Pubic policy on AIDS forces us to make difficult choices between order and freedom.

B. A growing number of Americans identify illegal drug use as the nation's most serious problem.

1. Although the drug crisis among the middle class may have begun to decline, it continues among the inner-city poor.

2. The national government did not regulate drugs until 1906, when Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act.

a. In the 1920s, government policy toward drug addiction switched from tolerance to an attempt to eliminate the problem entirely.

b. Despite massive expenditures and increasing arrests, the government has not stemmed the supply of drugs.

C. In the choice between prohibition and legalization, the majority of Americans prefer order, while few choose freedom.

1. The American public supports government policies of prohibition, including required drug testing of certain national employees.

2. Although virtually all elected policymakers agree with the current policy of prohibition, a few Americans believe that a policy of legalization, taxation, and regulation of drugs would be preferable.

II. The promotion of individual welfare through government policies is controversial because it requires government to choose between freedom and equality.

A. In recent history SOCIAL WELFARE expenditures have increased steadily in order to provide minimum living standards for all
citizens.

1. The GREAT DEPRESSION had a dramatic effect on the role of government in the twentieth century.

a. Market forces that had previously stemmed such declines were unable to check spreading unemployment.

b. Tens of thousands of dispossessed families were left without means of support.

2. The NEW DEAL policies advocated by the Roosevelt administration sought to remedy the effects of the Depression.

a. The New Deal legislation comprised two phases.

(1) The first phase was aimed at boosting farm prices and lowering unemployment.

(2) The second phase helped the forgotten and dispossessed groups.

b. The New Deal legislation brought about a confrontation between Democrats and conservatives.

(1) Roosevelt advocated "packing" the Supreme Court as it continued its opposition to the New Deal legislation.

c. Americans were closely divided over New Deal policies until those policies eventually became the status quo and they grew satisfied with them.

d. Poverty and unemployment remained until World War II despite the New Deal policies.

3. President Johnson's GREAT SOCIETY included a variety of programs designed to redress political, social and economic inequality.

a. Voting restrictions against blacks were eliminated.

b. Increased equality of educational opportunities was pursued by providing federal aid to poor school districts.

c. The WAR ON POVERTY implemented a variety of programs designed to eradicate poverty by providing training, education, and jobs.

4. By meeting minimum needs, government welfare policies attempt to promote equality.

a. Today's liberals tend to follow the New Deal path, which curtails economic freedom somewhat to promote economic equality.

b. Today's conservatives prefer economic freedom to government intervention on the theory that the tide of a rising economy lifts all boats.

c. The evidence of the 1980s does not bolster the conservatives' theory.

B. Ronald Reagan shifted emphasis in social welfare policy from economic equality to economic freedom.

1. Reagan preserved some of the core programs begun in the New Deal but proposed sharp cuts in a number of others.

2. Many of the Great Society programs remain in force but the overall level of welfare spending has declined.

III. There are several kinds of SOCIAL INSURANCE provided by government to protect individuals against loss, without regard to need.

A. SOCIAL SECURITY provides economic assistance to persons faced with unemployment, disability, or old age.

1. Unemployment and distress caused by the Depression led to the SOCIAL SECURITY ACT OF 1935, which has been expanded considerably since that time.

2. The federal government collects taxes from employers and employers to pay benefits to persons who are retiring.

a. Social security is not a form of savings.

b. Universal, compulsory participation is required by the government.

c. Declining birth rates or economic depression endanger the availability of benefits to future retirees.

3. The issue of "Who pays?" and "Who benefits?" from social security has to be addressed by the political system.

a. Cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) granted by Congress increased the benefits received by retirees.

b. "Stagflation" during the 1970s meant increased social security benefits and a smaller revenue base.

c. In 1983, Congress and President Reagan increased social security taxes and reduced benefits to guarantee the
viability of the social security system in the future.

d. The political risks associated with social security cutbacks are too great to expect a major change in the way it works.

B. Despite entrenched opposition to government's intrusion in the field of medicine, MEDICARE was passed in 1965 to provide health care to all persons over sixty-five.

1. Medicare is an expensive program that has massive public support from the elderly.

2. As Medicare costs have risen, the government has required certain incentives to cut costs that may reduce the quality of care.

C. After years of resistance from established special interests, the issue of universal health care became a focal point of the Clinton administration.

1. About 15 percent of Americans have no medical coverage.

2. The U.S. spends more money on health than any other industrialized nation, nearly 14 percent of the GDP.

3. The tradeoffs involve equality v. freedom.

IV. PUBLIC ASSISTANCE refers to state-administered programs directed at helping individuals unable to provide for themselves.

A. The federal government distributes funds to states in proportion to the number of people under the federal POVERTY LEVEL standard in each state.

1. The POVERTY LEVEL is calculated as three times the cost of an economy food plan.

2. Critics argue that the POVERTY LEVEL calculations should also include sources of income other than cash.

3. Though it is an imperfect tool, the POVERTY LEVEL standard serves as a yardstick in measuring progress against poverty.

4. Poverty remains a critical problem for children; 22 percent of people under 18 live in poverty.

B. The largest PUBLIC ASSISTANCE program is AID TO FAMILIES WITH DEPENDENT CHILDREN (AFDC), which provides basic cash assistance to poor families.

1. The typical recipients of AFDC are families headed by single mothers living in urban areas; over 50 percent of recipients are white.

2. Eligibility for AFDC qualifies recipients for other forms of public assistance.

3. Recipients must go through a complicated process that determines whether the applicants deserve aid.

4. The Family Support Act of 1988 requires most welfare recipients whose children are over the age of three to participate in state-approved work, education or training programs. Preliminary evidence suggests that the effects of the law will be trivial.

5. Eliminating or even reducing poverty has proven a difficult task for the nation.

a. Clinton promised to end welfare "as we know it."

b. However, providing the education, training, child care, and other support required to get women off welfare is more expensive than keeping them on welfare.

C. The federally funded FOOD STAMP PROGRAM was designed to improve the food purchasing power of poor households.

1. One in ten Americans received food stamps in 1992, at a cost of $21 billion.

2. Hunger remains a problem in America.

D. The national government provides benefits of two types.

1. MEANS-TESTED BENEFITS impose an income test to qualify.

2. NON-MEANS-TESTED BENEFITS impose no such income tests.

3. Transforming some non-means-tested benefits into means-tested benefits has allure during times of budget deficit. An example is Medicare, which provides equal benefits to wealthy and poor Americans.

AGENDA BUILDING

I. The policymaking process

A. So far we have concentrated on how policy is made by our institutions of government. Congress, the executive branch, and the courts all formulate policy.

B. A useful way to conceive of the policymaking process is to think of it as a cycle.

1. At the beginning of the process is what we might call AGENDA BUILDING. This is the process by which problems become issues.

a. There are many problems that our government could address. Not all of those problems are visible political issues. For years and years, toxic wastes were getting into our ecological system, but not many people were paying attention, Now it is a significant political issue.

b. Something happened to put the issue of toxic waste on the political agenda.

c. By agenda, we mean the range of issues the political system is working on. There is no official agenda for all of government, so we are not referring to a formal document.

2. Once an issue is on the agenda, the institutions of government will consider different policy solutions.

a. Quick action does not necessarily follow. Being on the agenda can still mean there is a long road for the issue to travel. Congress struggled with immigration reform for years, but only in 1986 did it finally get a bill through.

b. Once an institution takes action, it is likely that others will be drawn in.

c. For example, if Congress passes a bill creating a new program or amending an old one, an administrative agency will probably have to write regulations for it.

d. Somewhere along the line, there's a good chance there will be a court challenge to the way the agency is implementing the program or on some other grounds.

3. After a program has been in operation, evaluation of it will begin.

a. In a rigorous way, evaluation can take place when an agency assigns staff to examine how well a program is working. Using social science methodology, they will try to design a valid means of collecting data to find out how well the program is working.

b. Outside consultants may be hired to do evaluations if personnel is not available in-house.

c. In recent years, there has been increasing emphasis on the cost-effectiveness of programs.

d. In a less formal way, evaluation takes place through communication from the field. Those who work in the field offices implementing the program and dealing with the agency's clients on a day-to-day basis will quickly develop strong impressions of what works and what doesn't. They will encourage the headquarters in Washington to change those policies that aren't working well. Change can come from new agency regulations or from asking the Congress to change the statute.

4. Evaluation is the end of one policymaking cycle and the beginning of another. As information about program shortcomings reach policymakers, consideration of new policies to address those shortcomings begins.

II. Sources of policy initiation

A. Policymaking does not always begin as part of the predictable cycle described above. What is it that gets an issue going in the first place?

B. Roger Cobb and Charles Elder use the concept of triggering devices to explain how some issues got onto the political agenda. Some of the types of triggering devices they identify are listed below:

1. NATURAL CATASTROPHE: The cave-in at Consolidated Coal Company's No. 9 mine killed seventy-eight miners who were trapped inside. Agitation by miners led to some government action.

2. UNANTICIPATED HUMAN EVENTS: Terrorism in the past few years has caused our government and others to take action.

3. TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE IN THE ENVIRONMENT: Acid rain is an environmental problems that is the result of modern technology.

4. IMBALANCE IN RESOURCES: Strikes by unions reflect the members' feelings that they are not sharing fairly in the distribution of resources.

5. DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE: Changing patterns of marriage, divorce, and childbearing have led to new policy problems.

6. INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT: Cobb and Elder list a number of separate triggering devices relating to international conflict and the threat of conflict. Wars and changes in weapons technology are examples.

III. Kingdom's garbage cans

A. University of Michigan political scientist John Kingdom adds to our understanding of agenda building by using a "garbage can" model of organized behavior.

B. He cites the work of some social scientists who say that organizations are frequently "a collection of choices looking for problems, issues and feeling looking for decision situations in which they might be aired, solutions looking for issues to which they might be the answer, and decision-makers looking for work." This describes a garbage can model of decision making.

1. Kingdom argues that government is much like the garbage can organization. There are lots of solutions floating around government and the Washington community. Everyone has ideas they want to see enacted or implemented into public policy.

2. Interest groups have solutions, bureaucrats have solutions, members of Congress have solutions, and so on. But at any given time, most of these policy proposals are going nowhere fast.

3. What happens is that policy windows open--and when they do, some of these solutions receive serious consideration. Policy windows often open due to particular events, including publication of seminal books or articles, public attention to well-publicized crimes or other scandals, or the pressures of social movements.

a. An example is the liberal legislation that became the Great Society. Policy proposals for programs like Medicare, Medicaid, aid to education, and so on had been around for some time, but several best-selling books in the early 1960s pulled national attention to the problems of poverty. The books, combined with the social mood developed through the civil rights movement, helped generate legislative action.

b. More recently, a spate of spousal abuse legislation was created across the nation after O. J. Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife and her friend after a history of marital violence.

IV. Ideas have power

A. We still haven't answered a simple question. Where do the solutions come from in the first place? Regardless of when the window opens or whatever triggers public attention, what produced the solutions that were kicking around looking for problems?

B. There is no simple answer to this question. Solutions come from everywhere. Kingdom notes that it is very hard to pin down exactly where a policy proposal begins.

C. Solutions, however, are ideas. Many of our most influential solutions begin as broad ideas. Over time, as ideas gain credence, solutions to specific problems emerge.

1. One such idea is deregulation. Paul Quirk and Martha Derthick argue in a recent study that ideas have considerable power. They trace the recent movement toward deregulation to scholarly work in economics that offered empirical evidence of the inefficiencies caused by regulation.

2. Foundations began to support research on deregulation, and the body of literature in political science and economics continued to grow.

3. Gradually, scholarly literature began to serve as the basis for policy proposals. During the Carter and Reagan administrations, some of those proposals were acted upon and some industries underwent deregulation.

V. Idea pushers

A. The belief that ideas have power is reflected in the upsurge of conservative think tanks. One journalist notes that about thirty "noteworthy public-policy groups have been formed or dramatically expanded throughout the decade: nearly all are anti-liberal."

1. These include groups like the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Manhattan Institute.

2. Conservatives, including corporations wanting to promote pro-business ideas, support these think tanks because they want to try to get new, appealing solutions on the political agenda.

B. Left-of-center thinkers also want to promote their solutions, but because they challenge the status quo, and because leftwing publications and think tanks are generally under funded, these ideas tend to remain less visible in the national "marketplace" of ideas.

C. Politicians, too, are promoters of ideas. Senator Edward Kennedy became a key promoter of airline deregulation.

D. Interest groups (including corporations, as mentioned above) may expend a good deal of resources trying to get issues on the agenda. They may commission reports to try to attract attention to the solutions they want to push.