Public+Policy

Isolationism

 * A foreign policy that directed the United States to stay out of other nations’ conflicts in order to protect the interests of the US
 * Articulated in George Washington’s farewell address
 * Monroe Doctrine reaffirmed America’s inattention to Europe’s problems and to stay clear of Latin America
 * During WWI, President Wilson wanted the U.S. to join the League of Nations, a forerunner to the U.N.
 * However, the U.S. senates stood by the longstanding tradition of isolationism and rejected the League of Nations’ treaty
 * WW2 forced the U.S. out of isolationism

Maria Asilo & Hazel Cruz

Containment
Containment policy is when the government isolates and contains another country, so the country's influence and the country’s power doesn’t spread. Specifically, the main objective of containment was to stop communist influence from spreading after World War 2. After World War 2, the Soviet Union took over Eastern Europe, and American policy-makers were afraid that the Soviet Union was going to spread their influence even further. George F. Kennan proposed a containment doctrine to isolate and resist the spread of communism through peaceful means whenever possible, but with force if necessary. When the U.S. tried to help other nations oppose communism, the Soviet Union responded with the Berlin Blockade. The U.S. broke the blockade, but communism still spread. China then fell into communist influence. In 1950, communist North Korea invaded South Korea, which increased America fears of Soviet Imperialism. Truman sent American troops to Korea in attempt to forcefully contain Communism.

- Ken Okada, Aaron Asilo

"Preemption"

 * used to justify military action
 * use of force for self-defense is usually only lawful if an armed attack occurred not if it was likely to occur
 * preemptive (forestalling) self-defense is only allowed by customary international law when a threat indicating grave danger forces the victim to take action
 * Bush’s Doctrine of Preemption formulated the National Security Strategy (NSS)
 * reserves the right to preemptive attacks- even w/o a definite threat
 * War in Iraq is the first example on the implementation of this policy
 * it is meant to defend the US, Americans, and interests at home and abroad by identifying and destroying threats before it reaches US borders
 * use of force to prevent an attack in a situation where immediate action is the only possible option
 * gain strategic advantage in threatening situations

-Somya Sharma and Marianne Mendoza

Who makes foreign policy?
According to Article II of the Constitution, the president “makes treaties with other countries (with consent of the Senate).” Another important part of the president’s power when it comes to dealing with foreign countries, is its power to appoint and receive ambassadors. The president’s other role in government is commander-in-chief of the military. This gives him or her…but mostly likely a him the power to direct and command the military. Because of this, they get much authority over military interactions with the rest of the world. The military ties in very heavily with foreign affairs and policy due to the US’s global involvement.

-Lawson "the law" Navarro, Aldo-Chentte "lameo" Ruiz

Military policy:
DOD and who is involved in making military policy

Joint Chiefs of Staff
- who is on it and what do they do?

Social Policy:
To "promote the general welfare"

Health care:
1993: Congress defeated Clinton’s proposed plan for national health care researches, gathers information, and monitors health care **Food & Drug Administration (FDA) formed in 1913; regulates labeling & processing of most foods, drugs, & cosmetics; all drugs except tobacco must be approved became more important & visible after the post-9/11 Anthrax scare ** Health care paradox: America spends a large share of income on healthcare than any other industrialized country, but they don’t have a healthy population; best healthcare in the world, but only some have access (usually the more wealthy)
 * Public Health Service
 * Center for Disease Control (CDC)

Welfare: Social Security
HISTORY OF WELFARE

Traditionally welfare has been a private concern for the American families. The responsibility of taking care of one’s own children and parents has been passed from generation to generation.
 * Welfare as We Knew It**

The Social Security Act of 1935 created both an entitlement program for the retired and a national program to assist a sector of the poor. The program was originally called, “aid to dependent purity,” but in 1959, it was changed to “ADFC” (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). The program was fairly scattered and rations of aid given to the poor ranged by state from meager to lavish.

Political scientist Martin Gilens found that Americans wrongly tend to see welfare recipients as African American, and many Americans see African Americans as lazy. He discovered that while only 1/3 of welfare recipients have been African American, the media portrays ¾ of poor people as African-American.

Bill Clinton, in an effort to be a “centrist” president, promised to reform welfare by providing to two years of support (training, child care, and health care) as an incentive for people to return to work. The Congressional Republicans supported this action, and they drafted the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. This bill included the provisions that: - Each state would receive a fixed amount of money to run its own welfare programs; - People on welfare would have to find work within two years or lose all benefits; and - There would be a lifetime maximum of five years for welfare. The bill also changed the name of the cash payments to poor families from the AFDC to the TANF, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The amount of TANF money has been decreasing in recent years, and it is surrounded in controversy due to the suspicion that illegal immigrants are taking advantage of TANF benefits. However, federal law denies almost all benefits to illegal workers. George W. Bush’s contribution to welfare reform was encouraging people to marry. He drafted legislation that permitted states to use some of their money on programs that promote marriage. This was his solution to the problem of poverty—his reasoning being that marriage is associated with benefits for the partners and children. It was also a response to the growing rate of babies born to unmarried women.
 * The Welfare Reforms of 1996**

WHAT IS WELFARE?

Social welfare policies are policies that provide benefits to individuals, especially those in need at the expense of the American taxpayer.
 * Social Welfare**

There are two types of social welfare programs that are provided by the US government. One type, entitlement programs, provides assistance to everyone, regardless of need or income. Some examples include Social Security and Medicare. The second type, means-tested programs, provides assistance to those with specific needs. Some common examples include food stamps, welfare assistance and government housing. This is also known as “government handouts”. The means-tested programs are surrounded by controversy as people try to define who is “deserving” or not.
 * Types of Social Welfare**

In 1935 the U.S. passed the Social Security Act, which provies both unemployment and retirement compensation. Its funds are accrued from the taxation of employees and employers.

Welfare is distributed through income distribution; this is where the shares of the national income earned by different groups are uneven. Income in this case is defined as the amount of money made between two points in time. Wealth on the other hand is the amount that is owned such as in money, homes and others. The US measures the poor through using a poverty line. The poverty line is a method of counting people by their incomes and how much is needed to live on the absolute basics.
 * Distribution**

In the beginning the US did very little to help the poor, some were even punished. Social welfare began when the US gave pensions to Civil War veterans. Then FDR brought the New Deal and that helped change the outlook that people and the government had on social welfare. The first major step in developing social welfare came later with the Social Security Act of 1935. More programs were established during LBJ’s presidency such as Medicare. In the 1980s President Reagan cut social welfare programs due to military expansion. There was then a rise in welfare reform in Clinton’s presidency. At this time limits began to appear on welfare benefits and people had to commit to finding work. An example is the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.
 * Evolution of Social Welfare**

Social security in particular will eventually run out with time, as it will bankrupt itself. Some solutions that have been made are to lower the benefits, raising taxes and to privatize Social Security. Controversy lies in the effectiveness of these programs. A common argument includes the lack of change in the poverty line after Johnson’s “war on poverty”. This argument is also challenged by the effectiveness of social welfare in other countries that spend more money on it.
 * The Future**

Regulatory Policy:
Regulating Labor; Energy (Dept of Energy) and the Environment (EPA) Regulatory Policy- mandates that put rules/restrictions on the behavior of the public. The speed limit is an example. It regulates business, labor, energy, and the environment.

Regulatory Labor is done through the National Labor Relations Board. Regulation is the use of governmental authority to control or change some practice in the private sector. Regulations by government pervade Americans’ everyday lives and the lives of businesses, universities, hospitals, and other institutions. It is the most controversial role of the bureaucracies, yet Congress gives bureaucrats broad mandates to regulate activities as diverse as interest rates, the location of nuclear plants and food additives.

Everyday life is the subject of bureaucratic regulation. Almost all bureaucratic agencies are in the regulatory business. As regulators, bureaucratic agencies typically operate with a large grant of power from Congress, which may detail goals to be achieved but may also permit the agencies to sketch out the regulatory means. It has grown in recent decades, included the budget, level of employment, and the number of rules they issue. This situation has led to charges that the government is overdoing it.

=Age Discrimination:= “Graduate and professional schools often rejected applicants in their thirties on the grounds that their professions would get fewer years—and thus less return—out of them. This policy had a severe impact on housewives and veterans who wanted to return to school.” “1969, Congress banned some kinds of age discrimination. 1975, civil rights law denied federal funds to any institution discrimination against people over the age of 40 because of their age.”

=Civil Rights:= “1896, Plessy vs. Ferguson; Louisiana legislature require ‘equal but separate accommodations for the White and colored races’. Paid more attention to the ‘separate’ aspect, however, for example; it allowed Southern states to maintain high schools and professional schools for Whites even though there were no such schools for African Americans." “1954, Brown vs. Board of Education; Supreme Court set aside its precedent in Plessy; school segregation was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection. A year after decision, Court ordered lower courts to desegregate public schools. Desegregation preceeded slowly, however, and a few counties threatened to close their public schools. In 1964 under the Civil Rights Act, Congress prohibited federal aid to schools that remained segregated.”

=In relation to Federalism:= “Education was usually thought of as being mainly a state and local responsibility, but through cooperative federalism, American universities such as Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Illinois, Ohio State, North Carolina State and Iowa state were created.” “In 1958, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act, which provided federal grants and loans for college students and financial support for elementary and secondary education in science and foreign languages; result from space race with Russia. In 1965, Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provided federal aid to numerous schools.”

=Gender Discrimination:= “Education Act of 1972; No person in the US shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

=No Child Left Behind:= "2002 No Child Left Behind Act, George W. Bush signed, establishing standards of performance and sanctions, including loss of federal aid, for failing to meet them. Also, federal schools have ordered local schools to implement elaborate desegregation plans and have placed constraints on school prayers."

(Source: Government in America: People, Politics, and Policy)