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Thu 27 Apr, 2006 05:33 am
Public Policy
I would say that ?'stem cell research' and ?'global warming' are labels of current public policy matters which have not yet become fully accepted strategies for most nations. Many nations are further along in the path toward deciding public policy for global warming than for stem cell research.
I claim that public policy establishes goals and strategy (the art of devising or employing plans or stratagems) to meet those goals.
Because the strategy undertaken by each nation is fundamentally connected to the strategy taken by every other nation no nation can feel secure in its own internal decisions on these matters without carefully integrating the strategy of others.
It appears to me that a nation's public policy is often a matter of grave concern to all citizens of all nations. Because this is true I would think that the Internet is an invaluable tool for all of us when we consider matters of public policy. In many parochial matters the Internet forum is not very useful for the obvious reason that the facts are so different for each community.
The theory of democracy is that many or perhaps most citizens share in the policy decisions of their nation. Ideally all citizens would have an input for these matters but the preparation required for a citizen to provide intelligent input is significant and few citizens are interested. As citizens back-away from their responsibility a small group of elite make public policy decisions without significant input from the vast majority of the citizens.
I guess that 80% of forum members are younger than thirty. If we assume that public interest in participating in public policy is steadily declining then this new generation is at a lower level than any generation before.
Do you think that 80% of forum members are under thirty? Do you think that citizens under thirty can be expected to display more or less interest in participating in public policy decisions than previous generations? What is required of any citizen to be properly prepared to participate in making judgments about public policy?
So what are you asking?
Are you asking about stem cell research?
Global Warming?
Public policy?
Young people contributing to society?
You have merged so many topics into one quick thread and then tossed down a few questions which standing on their own do not seem to directly connect into your original statements. Please clarify what you are looking for here.
sturgis
I do not think average citizens participate in public policy and furthermore I do not think they are prepared to participate in public policy.
Political action takes various forms. We do have partisan involvement in politics. I am interested in the citizen developing the means to participate in discussion and formulation of public policy.
The normal political activities are good and valid but I am interested in going far beyond these activities.
I think that the corporate elite is the matador who deflects the activities of the bull (people) to charge at the politicians and thereby never noticing who controls both the bull (people) and the politicians. The people and the politicians are controlled by the power elite.
The power elite use the politicans to divert the attention of the people so as to appear that the people have some voice in policy. The people and the politicians do have some part in public policy but primarily these decisions are made by those who remain unseen.
Politics?-the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy.
I am interested in democracy especially in America and generally elsewhere on the globe. I think, like Churchill, that considering all the other forms of government democracy is best. Democracy means self-government by the citizens, which means, among other things, that the citizens must share in the formulation of public policy.
Voting and being informed are necessary components of a healthy democracy but it is certainly insufficient. If that is the limit of participation then policy is left to those who are ready and willing to take those matters into their own hands.
We have been given the great legacy of a republic, like one of the early framers said "if you can keep it". I suspect most people who consider such matters would agree with me that we, who enjoy the benefits of such a form of government, have not lived up to our responsibilities. We have erroneously thought that the ship will sail itself and we will enjoy the legacy without lifting our finger.
CA (Corporate America) has developed a well-honed expertise in motivating the population to behave in a desired manner. Citizens as consumers are ample manifestation of that expertise. CA has accomplished this ability by careful study and implementation of the knowledge of the ways of human behavior. I suspect this same structure applies to most Western democracies.
A democratic form of government is one wherein the citizens have some voice in some policy decisions; the greater the voice of the citizens the better the democracy.
In America we have policy makers, decision makers, and citizens. The decision makers are our elected representatives and are, thus, under some control by the voting citizen. The policy makers are the leaders of CA; less than ten thousand individuals, according to those who study such matters. Policy makers exercise significant control over decision makers by controlling the financing of elections.
Policy makers customize and maintain the dominant ideology in order to control the political behavior of the citizens. This dominant ideology exercises the political control of the citizens in the same fashion as the consuming citizen is controlled by the same dominant ideology.
I am interested in how we might turn this situation around such that citizens become active participants of public policy.
coberst wrote:
I am interested in how we might turn this situation around such that citizens become active participants of public policy.
You have to grab hold of a child in their formative years and find the tools to help encourage them to take part. If this is done correctly then they will grow into adults with an essentially inherent interest in being a part of what is happening within their world instead of sitting back barely giving notice.
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