Public Policy in the United States of America, Essay Example

Public policy can be simply defined as a set of principles, guides, and courses of actions or laws that govern the welfare of the public good[1]. Public policies run through various fields, right from labor, human rights and trade agreement. In the United States of America, public policy is created to control various departments, such as, trade and human affairs. The most common form of public policy, in the US, is in the labor unions. To some extent, labor unions determine the wages and working conditions of workers.

In the case of the American system of government, public policy is created in various ways; however, the most common and legit way is via the Supreme Court. Petitions are presented in law courts and the rulings form precedents that live to form part of the public policy. Two rivaling parties argue in court and the court weighs both sides for the right decision. Whatever rulings the Supreme Court makes, are obeyed unless ruled otherwise in a future high court ruling or a parliamentary meeting. This is evident in the case of Justice Stone in U.S VS Darby (1942), which saw the powers of the congress elevated from interstate to intrastate commerce.

The other way of creating public policies in the US is by passing of parliamentary acts. In this case, an act is presented in parliament and the members of parliament discuss and decide on whether it is viable for passing or not. In this process, the act can be passed as it is, declined, or mended before passing. Once the act is passed by parliament and published, it becomes a national law and is applied accordingly- in the various fields that concern it. The same is seen in the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act (1916), which stipulated that no product or article was to be sold in international trade if, the whole of part of the production of the same was done by an underage/ child.

Issues concerning public policy are determined in various ways. The public can raise a problem directly to the state via riots or demonstrations, and meetings. Nevertheless, the problems can also be brought to book via unions’ representatives, in case the problems involve some union groups. For a problem to be considered as a national policy, it should be able to affect a good majority of citizens. The citizens experiencing the problem in question find an appropriate way to bring it to light, for addressing. An example of a riot was seen in the 1880s, when wages were cut, but there were no consequent rent reductions in the Pullman Town. This saw workers go on strike and boycott trains that were carrying Pullman cars and federal officers had to be called in to take over the duties. This also resulted in a large demonstration and lootings in the Chicago city (1894).

Unions have also represented their people in various forums before, in various quests. Between the years of 1980s and 1990s, the United Auto Workers sought higher pays and better working conditions for its members. This effected greatly on general motors and it was forced to lay off about 25000 of its workers.

In summary, the issue of public policy is a national concern and it involves a set of rules or laws to specific public problems, e.g. labor issues. The problems are presented via unions or riots at times, and the laws are made in the Supreme Court as precedents or the parliament as parliamentary acts. Going against public policies is punishable in a court of law.

Bibliography

Cochran, Clarke E. 2012. American public policy: an introduction. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Lesson 7: Public Policy

[1] Cochran, Clarke E. 2012. American public policy: an introduction. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.