Response 2

Kraft discusses John Kingdon’s model of understanding environmental problems, policies, and politics through the “three streams” method. While at first this method seems self-explanatory, it does bring up an interesting point. Kraft mentions under the “politics stream” that elected officials are keenly aware of their constituencies’ opinions and therefore it is extremely effective for environmental groups to mobilize the public around important issues “by stimulating a sense of public outrage.” Again, while this seems at first a well-known fact and people always are told that their opinion matters, this statement seemed to really hit home with the word “mobilize” to remind me that while phone calls and letters are important, public demonstrations are key in being able to physically show a community’s united feelings to their representatives. People are always told that they can make a difference as an individual, but many do not always feel that way. However, Kingdon actually included the part played by the individual in his model to truly show how one is able to influence government policy. This is a critical part of how policies are formed, yet it is often overlooked by texts that focus on only the politics and technicalities of the field and overshadow the power of ordinary citizens.

Interestingly, citizens themselves are often unaware of how to flex their political muscle. As evidenced by our class discussion on Thursday dealing with the Waxman Markey bill, most citizens are little aware of what the proposed legislation concerns and how it will affect them. Situations such as this help to convince the community that legislation works from the top down instead of through the grassroots methods from which it should unfold. The question therefore is how to create more well informed citizens and community members that want to be a part of the decision making process. Kraft briefly mentions this conundrum on page __ , pointing to legislation to be in charge of creating a program to educate and mobilize citizens. It is ironic that the government must decide how to keep its citizens informed so that they make better decisions about the government. However, I can think of few other ways to ensure political education than to have it government regulated. Perhaps a committee can be created to research and address this topic, although breadth of committees and who they are influenced by are both difficult topics to deal with, Kraft also reminds us.