Van Wormer Power Elite

Political forces, which are controlled by the government, can majorly influence and change the way people live their life. From the Federal Housing Administration, which enabled citizens to become homeowners by underwriting mortgages, to the Interstate Highway Act, that change the route of expressways, political forces can dramatically change the way a city runs and functions. Wilson (2011) states, “In short, public housing became a federally funded institution that isolated families by race and class, resulting in high concentrations of poor black families in inner-city ghettos” (pg. 14). Wilson describes political forces as

In the United States, public policy is shaped by multiple factors, from average citizens voices in elections to interest groups and organizations. In their study, “Testing theories of American politics”, scholars Benjamin Page and Martin Gilens explore the impact of average citizens, the economic elite and interest groups have on the passage of public policy. Additionally through their, Page and Gilens(2014) have found “that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence” (Pg 535). This means that when it comes to the creation of public policies, rich people and groups

Chapter 8: A question that has stuck with Wheelan for years, asked by one of his peers was, “If people know so much about public policy, then why is everything so messed up” (175)? The reason for that is because it leads to something far more significant: Even when economists reach consensus on policies that would be to our advantage, they frequently run into political opposition. And when it comes to interest groups in politics, it pays to be small because the tail can wag the dog. This can have a huge impact on the economy. They are usually the most successful because the consequence of requests they receive are spread over a large, disunified group of people. Wheelan states that small problems begin to distort the simplest jobs of a market

Deborah Stone begins her book, Policy Paradox, by stating, “a theory of policy politics must start with a simple model of political society, just as economics starts with a simple model of economic society.” Deborah Stone examines two policy-making models to describe the paradox’s of the process model for public policy. The two models include: the market (rational model) and the Polis (community) model. Stone states she contrasts these two models to “illuminate some ways the market model distorts political life.” As discussed in class, the market model follows five steps:

Policymaking is a political process which is affected by various social and economic factors (Hofferbert, 1974) and media systems play an integral role in shaping the social context in which policies are developed. Through the media, citizens learn how government policies will affect them, and governments gain feedback on their policies and programs. Media systems act as the primary channels between those who might want to influence policy and the policymakers '' controlling the scope of political discourse and regulating the flow of information. Textbook policymaking follows an orderly sequence where problems are identified, solutions devised, policies adopted, implemented, and lastly evaluated (Mazamanian & Sabatier, 1989). In reality,

Deborah Stone compares the market and polis models of policy making with the intent to show that the original origin of the public policy discipline was to be grounded in a practical science, economics, but to also show how and why the economic approach to policy making has significant limitations. Stone is arguing against the view that policy decision making is rational decision making. Deborah Stone’s main reason for comparing the two models of policy making is to identify and critique the simplistic assumptions that have been used in the market and rationality project. Stone is attempting to point out the paradox that exists between the two because the two models are evidently contradictory, the market being ground in rationality and the polis being based on emotion. Stone compares the two policies in order to show that economics cannot be solely used to understand policy making because the two are fundamentally different. She also points out that policy is made in a political society and because of this the polis model seeks to explain public policy as it actually happens in reality since the field and study of public policy was created to allow government to make decisions that would best benefit their citizens.

Powerful political “bosses” in each party compelled urban residents into voting for favored candidates, who would then give kickbacks and bribes back to the bosses in appreciation for getting them elected. Bosses would also spend money to improve constituents’ neighborhoods to ensure a steady flow of votes for their machines. Trading jobs and services for votes, a powerful boss might claim the loyalty of thousands of followers; the bosses found lodging, gave gifts of food and clothing, and patched up minor scrapes with the law. In this sense, party bosses and machine politics actually helped some of the poorest people in the cities, adding to the illusion of urban

The overarching theme of this book is that political elite continue to get rich while the middle class gets poor. Hacker manages, somehow, to remain relatively unbiassed about our government issues despite being a progressive reformer. Hacker and Pierson theory is that inequality is, largely a political issue and can only be corrected by the American voters. The problem, of course, is that voters are to much divided to create a political change that is need improve America’s political issues. Political politicians severely favor big business interests and the wealthy elite to reform the political system, which attest to the old slogan of lifting oneself up by one's own bootstraps. The problems of political inequality, are real but the more we as American voters understand the political issues, the better America’s middleclass has for overcoming them, and this book provides a great deal of insight on the current obstacles to creating a progressive change in our current political

Goldman believes that the solution to a fundamentally corrupt system is education. The struggle must not be left up to electoral politics, being that “correct ideas must precede correct actions.”8 She argues that when people are educated properly and arrive at a knowledge of the true principles of governing unanimous social relations, they will put them into practice by themselves without the ballot

This conjoined perspective includes the idea that there is an elite hierarchy at play, but groups, such as civil rights activists and environmentalists, also have a strong influence on what gets decided in public policy. Afterall, there really are hardly any machines out there that run strictly from one source; the body has the heart, but also needs the brain, the car has the engine, but couldn’t go anywhere without

McCelland's afore mention quote recognises that actors involved in the policy making process, bring about a personal bias or belief in the role they perform. It may be likened to a microcosm of the world, as individuals or groups vie for power, working towards achieving their own interest and or the interest of society as a whole. Once these policies are implemented it requires the exercise of authority and systems to apply this authority. Take for example a community organiser who strongly believes in social justice for children living in poverty, they believe in policies that improve the well-being of children who share our society. These people may favour a system which corresponds to their ideology, that of a large welfare state and government.

Electoral Influence-“can be considered the primary prevention of policymaking because it is important activity that precedes policy work.”

Chapter 1 walks the reader through the need for easy methods of policy analysis and planning as our problems in society become more complex and difficult to solve. This chapter starts with the introduction of a set off systematic procedures or what is known as policy analysis methods that can be used to solve our complex problems. Then there is a subgroup of these methods that are basic methods, which assists with quick results and in making good policy decisions (Patton, Sawicki, & Clark, 2012, p. 3). Some disagree that there is a set of procedures that can be used to assist in solving problems however a standardized methodology has developed and been applied (Patton et al., 2012 p.

But these benefits and costs are still not sufficient to cause the policy failure. Voters could overcome their financial and time cost of getting informed and organizing an opposition if they were sufficiently interested and aroused to contribute resources to defeat the minority interests. Besides their low financial incentive, there is a low sympathetic incentive. Apathy combined with low commercial returns is sufficient to prevent social action.

The purpose of populism is to relief the working class from the exploitation by the privileged elite but many politicians use it as a disguise for their personal benefits.(Miller, 2017) “punishes the least well-off first, exactly the ones who are supposed to benefit from populist policies.” This shows that populism honestly does not work and is not influential; it is just used as make-believe.