PAD 510 Week 11 Discussion 1 Course Wrap-up

PAD 510

Week 11 Discussion 1

Course Wrap-up. Please respond to the following:

Share two new insights about policy making and the policy process you have discovered from this course.

While this class was interesting, I learned a lot of new things. I learned about the official actors, unofficial actors and interest groups. According to the book, interest groups are important to the policy process because the power of individuals is greatly magnified when they form groups (134). I never really paid attention that was the main factors in a policy. If it interests me I would listen to it. If it was someone that I did not care for I just tuned out.

Second made me realize what and who can influence a policy. Learning that the media plays a big part in the decision making of society when it comes time to voting. Because of this class I paid more attention to the news and what was being said on the presidential race. Now that I have taken this class I will pay a lot more attention to politics.

Make a persuasive argument for this type of course being a required elective for every college freshmen.

Whether you are a freshman, sophomore or graduate, everyone should be required to take this type of course. By taking this course they will be able to make a better decision on what and who they are voting for. They will also understand the political aspect when it comes to their jobs or other items that may affect them in the long run. I recently heard a co-worker say, I don’t care who the president is as long as it does not affect with my pay. I stated you have to care and you have to vote. What you actually think will not hurt you will at some point of time while they are in office. You need to pay action and vote in the presidential race and all other race that come on. It does not stop with just the president.

Birkland, T. A. (2011). An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making 3rd Edition. Armonk, New York and London, England: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

Week 11 Discussion 2

Course Take-Away. Please respond to the following:

Identify one of the many Websites you visited during this course that you enjoyed or found most helpful to you. Explain why it was beneficial to you.

One of the Websites that I enjoyed and found very helpful was:

Office of Family Assistance. (2011, 7 December). Temporary Assistance of Needy Families (TANF). Retrieved 5 September, 2012, from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children & Families: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/tanf/about.html

This was beneficial for me because I spent the last 11 years in public administration. I’m a TANF Career Counselor. As I worked there I did not understand the decision that were being made. Upper Management would say that it was political. Now when they, make these decision I can fully understand why it is political and why we need to do it the way they said. It will help me given a more valuable explanation to the rest of the staff as to why we are doing it.

Discuss a current policy debate that you have started to tune into more since this course started. Explain why you seem to be following it more closely and what you seem to be focused more on having taken this class.

A current policy debate that I started to tune into was the Welfare to Work Topic – TANF. As you all know, I have been working with TANF clients for 11 years. This is a very political job. According to Romney, President Obama waives welfare and will just send checks to individuals who applied. This was a false report. I understand what Romney was trying to do, but I believe it will back fire on him. As if President Obama political base majority welfare recipients, and they believed this ad then they are more likely to go out and vote for President Obama. I believe Romney was going after the population that is against the welfare reform. But he did not count on that there is a lot more people on welfare than who are against welfare. This topic is near to me, because I would not have my job. Because there would be no need to have an outside agency to monitor the individuals.

Birkland, T. A. (2011). An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making 3rd Edition. Armonk, New York and London, England: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

Office of Family Assistance. (2011, 7 December). Temporary Assistance of Needy Families (TANF). Retrieved 5 September, 2012, from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children & Families: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/tanf/about.html