PUBLIC POLICY

Public Policy
-The principles often unwritten on which social laws are based.

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• When courts and legislatures made same sex marriage legal they had to take into account what was best for all.

VOCAB

• Congressional stature : law passed by Congress.
• Presidential action: decision by the president.
• Court decision: opinion by Supreme Court or other court.
• Budgetary choices: legislative enactment of taxes and expenditures.
• Regulation: agency adoption of regulation.

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The Policymaking System
It begins with people. All Americans have interests, problems, and concerns that are touched upon by public policy.

Elections not only allow citizens the chance to make their opinions heard by choosing public officials, but they also help shape the governments public agenda, which consists of the issues that need to attract serious public attention.

A government's policy agenda changes regularly, when jobs are scarce and businesses are failing, they go to the top of the agenda. When everything is going great for us, then foreign problems top the list.

Polices can also be established with inaction as much as action, doing nothing or nothing different can prove to be very influential to the government.

Having a policy implies a goal, whether we want to cut crime or clean water, we have a specific goal in mind. You have to think if a policy can achieve the goal and at what cost.