pol-08 response
Jambo
Pol-08response.docxPol-08 response one
Note three or four references on this response
Note: Comments also at the end ( one page)
Policy makers want to form policies and create laws that will benefit the public, so citizen engagement in government is very important. If citizens are not going to meeting, sharing their opinions, and being a part of the process then policy makers are not going to know what the public wants. It is especially important for citizens to be engaged in local politics and conveniently local government workers are fairly accessible. Lack of citizen engagement is a problem that should receive a lot of focus because in many cases the public voice is not being heard and it is partly the responsibility of government workers to ensure that the public have a voice.
New public service stresses that the public should be treated like costumers, which is an interesting idea. I think that if the public feel like they are equals and that their opinion genuinely matters then they would be more like to voice their opinions more. If citizens do not feel like government leaders value their opinion then they will not voice it. Efficiency, fairness and equity are all important in New Public Management and if those and other themes are stressed on a regular basis then I think the public would be more engaged in politics (Denhardt and Denhardt 2015). Some citizens want to be engaged in politics and will write to politicians, but sometimes do not hear back which, discourages them from participating in the future (Schwalbe 2016). When citizen engagement is already low it does not help that some people are not comfortable with online websites and when people do not get feedback from government leaders (Schwalbe 2016).
While people generally have fairly easy access to local levels of government they do not have as much state or federal government, but it is important for people to feel like they have a say in what happens in state and federal government. If people feel that what they say matter then it would increase participation in decisions making and people would be more interested in the topics at hand. People want to be able to have genuine conversations with policy makers and feel like they are respected (Schooler 2016). A lack of participation hurts everyone including policy makers, so more needs to be done to ensure that participation is increased. Everyone’s opinions matter and until people realize it then the decisions making process will continue to be impacted.
I am not involved in the decision making process as much as I should be, but I would like to be more involved. It helps me when I know about meetings that are happening because sometimes meetings and news about meeting are not publicized enough. If politicians also answered back to messages and expressed more interest in public opinion it would help spark my interest.
Volunteering is a good way for citizens to participate and show interest in important matters. On first Wednesday of each month St. Louis holds Continuum of Care meeting meetings that discuss new and existing agencies and non-profits that are able to assist homeless citizens in St. Louis city and surrounding counties. The meetings also are also in place to inform the community about volunteer opportunities. The meetings are open to anyone that wants to attend. I attend the meetings every month because it helps me with my work, but also because I like to learn about volunteer opportunities whether they need help at a food pantry if there is a fundraiser going and assistance is needed with the fundraiser. I try to volunteer as often as I can in the communities to assist citizens that are in need.
References
Denhardt, J; Denhardt, R. (2015). The New Public Service: Serving, not steering. New York: Routledge.
Schooler, L. (2016). Can Citizens have a Genuine Voice in Policymaking. Govering the States and Localities.
http://www.governing.com/gov-institute/voices/col-public-participation-policymaking-process.html
Schwalbe, S. (2016). Why Aren’t Citizens More Engaged in Local Government? Politics and Government.
https://inhomelandsecurity.com/why-arent-citizens-more-interested-in-local-government/?
Pol-08 response two
Note three or four references on this response
The New Public Service (NPS) calls for government officials to create opportunities, platforms, and policies to facilitate citizen participation. NPS theory requires citizens to take an active role in creating policy. In a democratic society, government is the result of citizen participation (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2000, p.549). However, citizens have become apathetic and complacent to the responsibility of participating in social issues at the local level. The invigoration of public participation is necessary to formulate policies brokered by collective and collaborative efforts of citizens’ interests (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2000, p.553). Local governments must concentrate their focus on serving and empowering their citizenry through mechanisms conducive for effective policy creation. Under NPS theory, the responsibility of local governments is to assist and support “community” policies through local initiatives to drive citizen participation. The implementation of technological innovations, specifically, Smart governance initiatives, provide citizens a platform to communicate and gather information regarding local policy issues and concerns (Reforgiato et al., 2016, p.389). However, implementation and access to technological innovations may not be feasible in some localities due to the costs associated with this worthy endeavor. Grass roots efforts, beyond local city council hearings, are also providing an avenue for citizens to voice their concerns. Some localities are utilizing discussion forums, located at both public and private venues, to engage in respectful debate of local concerns under the direction of neutral facilitators (Schooler, 2016). The issue of citizen apathy also starts at home. Educational initiatives are needed to provide the youth a better understanding of their responsibility to participate in the political and public policy process. With poor role models of active political participation, it is incumbent upon educational institutions to plant the seed within our youth about their responsibility in the public policy process. The results of poor policy participation produced an increase of lawsuits by policy opposition, and public protests (Schooler, 2016). National interest in public policy has been sparked by a need to address immediate concerns. For example, the Patriot Act was spurred by the public demand to address an immediate need to confront terrorist activity. The creation of the Freedom Act was a direct response to reign in government power infringing upon Americans’ rights to privacy. Thus, effective public policy must be created upon the agreement of conflicting views through inclusive transparent mechanisms tailored to protecting public interests (McKay et al., 2015, p.139).
Dr. Schwalbe makes a compelling argument concerning the lack of citizen interest at the local level. The New Public Service is not realistic if citizens are not willing to engage and participate in the public policy process. Citizens feel that elected officials’ primary responsibility is to fulfill their duties by tending to the community issues at hand. Citizens are unwilling to participate because of a lack of time or interest in the policy creation process until it negatively affects them. Schwalbe points out that citizens’ concerns conveyed via electronic means to their elected officials usually result in minimal constructive feedback (2016). Obama stated that the need is to “give people effective access to the process” (Schooler, 2016). Unfortunately, the people are less than responsive to public service initiatives. NPS theory and its execution are hindered by a complacent populace indifferent to acquiesce to this innovative policy creation process.
From personal perspective, I consider myself an “independent” or conservative liberal and try my best to align my political allegiance to candidates whom share the same ideology and beliefs. The lack of time, or ability to make a concerted effort to make time, hampers my ability to impact local political issues. I do exercise my right to vote at all elections, local and national. I also lead and coordinate a volunteer effort of my fellow employees by donating our personal time to assist at the local food bank farm. I feel it is the “right thing to do” as UPSers to give back to the community we work in by helping the less fortunate.
In conclusion, thanks everyone for a very enlightening learning experience. It has been a pleasure and honor to interact with my fellow classmates and distinguished Professor. The best of luck to everyone in their educational and professional endeavors.
Respectfully,
Francisco Ortiz
Denhardt, R. B., & Denhardt, J. V. (2000). The new public service: Serving rather than steering. Public Administration Review, 60(6), 549-559. doi:10.1111/0033-3352.00117
McKay, S., Murray, M., MacIntyre, S., & Kashyap, A. (2015). Evidence-based policymaking and the public interest: Lessons in legitimacy. The Town Planning Review, 86(2), 133-154. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/docview/1664929561?accountid=8289
Reforgiato Recupero, D., Castronovo, M., Consoli, S., Costanzo, T., Gangemi, A., Grasso, L., . . . Spampinato, E. (2016). An innovative, open, interoperable citizen engagement cloud platform for smart government and users' interaction.Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 7(2), 388-412. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy2.apus.edu/10.1007/s13132-016-0361-0
Schooler, L. (2016, Februrary 1). How citizens can have a genuine voice in policymaking. Voices of the Governing Institute. Retrieved from http://apus.intelluslearning.com/v3/course-widget/640/#/document/112675286/1/3c5f60630dda589784b34eca30c961f0/dd9778795ba542c4e9b0ab87405e99f6/browse_published_content/6383/23136/51053/8/lesson/lesson?hideClose=true&tagId=40658&external_course_id=385194&external_course_name=PADM530%20B001%20Spr%2018
Schwalbe, S. (2016, December 19). Why aren't citizens more interested in local government? In Homeland Security. Retrieved from https://inhomelandsecurity.com/why-arent-citizens-more-interested-in-local-government/
Pol-08 response three
Note three or four references on this response
Dr. Schwalbe speaks about the New Public Service theory as one where there is collaboration between government and citizens during policy development. He points out the challenges this may create, such as citizens who cannot dedicate the time into local policies or are just not interested. He indicates that citizens elect politicians for the purpose of policy making so they do not have to dedicate time of their own to matters that affect them.
Additionally, he notes that many times when a citizen attempts to communicate with their representatives they many times do not get a response, it appears as though it is one-way communication (Schwalbe, 2016). In his article, Schooler indicates that creating a welcoming venue for citizen engagement has proven to be valuable when asking for citizens to become more involved. The author makes note that the days of forums where citizens have moments to talk just prior to an important vote to voice their opinions are not beneficial and do not promote citizen involvement. Many communities are changing the way they ask for citizens to voice their concerns using smaller groups and promoting more of a conversation as opposed to a speech that may not sway a policy decision at the last minute (Schooler, 2016).
Denhardt and Denhardt define citizen engagement in government as being categorized as either “normative” the idea that building citizenship and community is important on its own; and instrumental which is engagement aimed at implementing policy or a project (2015, p. 177). The authors point out the importance of citizen engagement during the policy making process. With the complexity of issues facing government it is important to have citizen involvement and it almost requires this involvement to have acceptance of new policies. Additionally, citizens may have information that is needed to develop a successful policy change (Denhardt & Denhardt, 2015).
Citizen engagement and participation in the policy making process has much added value, as Denhardt and Denhardt pointed out, citizens in a community have firsthand knowledge of the feasibility of a policy or what the policy needs may be. Social media has also opened doors on communication regarding political issues. With various platforms, different groups have been able to voice their opinions and reach a wider number of citizens with much ease. With this form of communication, it has become apparent when a politician or policy maker is listening to constituents. Moving forward, it will be extremely important that the “one-way” communication Schwalbe discussed, such as sending a letter to a political leader only to receive a form response in return, be adjusted as with social media attention this type of communication will be highly criticized (2016).
Creating ways for citizens to become engaged and participate in policy making decisions that are easy and they feel heard is important to promoting interest. If citizens are continually made to feel their opinions and input is not being considered, as has happened in the past, they will likely not continue to participate. However, as said above, the use of social media has opened a new door on getting information out to the public. With this platform, many citizens may become more engaged as they will be more informed, this may also create pitfalls for misinformation being released creating more issues. As a public employee participating in some political activities is considered unethical since I serve the people of NY. I have, however, been involved in many policy decisions and received input from concerned citizens who wanted to have a say in the changes we were making to state run programs and policies. At the Department of Health, we took citizen input very seriously including responding to public comment for newly drafted regulations for a Medical Marijuana Program. Many of the concerns and ideas that were brought to us we carefully considered and if feasible we included them into regulation.
References:
Denhardt, J. V., & Denhardt, R. B. (2015). The New Public Service Serving, Not Steering. Armonk: Taylor and Francis.
Boswell, J., Settle, C., & Dugdale, A. (2015). Who speaks, and in what voice? The challenge of engaging 'the public' in health policy decision-making. Public Management Review, 17(9), 1358-1374. doi:10.1080/14719037.2014.943269
Schooler, L. (2016, February 1). How Citizens Can Have a Genuine Voice in Policymaking. Retrieved May 21, 2018, from http://www.governing.com/gov-institute/voices/col-public-participation-policymaking-process.html
Schwalbe, S. (2016, December 20). Why Aren't Citizens More Interested in Local Government? Retrieved May 21, 2018, from https://inhomelandsecurity.com/why-arent-citizens-more-interested-in-local-government/
Consider what public servants can do to increase the engagement of citizens.
