Frank Bertoldi <bertoldi@astro.Princeton.EDU> (06/21/91)
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The following is the summary of a newly released report by the
Kettering Foundation. The actual 70-page report can be obtained
free of charge from the Kettering Foundation, 1-800-221-3657. <fb>
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* CITIZENS AND POLITICS: *
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* A View from Main Street America *
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* (Executive Summary) *
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A study by The Harwood Group for the Kettering Foundation
Copyright 1991 by the Kettering Foundation.
[reproduced with permission]
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Citizens and Politics explores citizen attitudes on politics
today. It does so at a time when the media, public officials,
scholars, and others repeatedly raise concerns about the
health of American politics. Based on in-depth discussions with
citizens from ten cities across America, Citizens and Politics
identifies not only what people say about politics, but why they
hold those views and how they think about them. The report offers
the citizen perspective on this topic. It reveals that the
problems in politics today are more pervasive and deeper than are
reflected in the current debate. And it finds that commonly
promoted remedies, when taken alone, will not address the
underlying concerns troubling Americans. What is needed, citizens
argue, are changes in the conditions that shape our current
political environment.
Citizens and Politics is a report of the Kettering Foundation, a
research foundation dedicated to understanding and enhancing the
practice of politics in America. It was prepared by The Harwood
Group and is part of the Kettering Foundation's ongoing project
exploring the relationship between citizens and their government.
Conventional wisdom was the starting point for this study. Among
the common refrains heard are that Americans are apathetic about
politics; they no longer care. That civic duty is dead, or is
waning seriously; people no longer want to participate in public
life. The conventional cures to our troubles are familiar, too: a
series of legislative changes the likes of campaign finance
reform, stronger ethics codes, and term limits that will help
restore public confidence in the political process and increase
citizen participation.
In Citizens and Politics, the voices of Americans assert that
this current diagnosis is off the mark: the debate on politics is
misframed -- the problems are different than those ordinarily
described. And the prevailing cures do not cut deep enough to
affect real change -- they fail to address many of the core
issues at hand. The report indicates that:
Americans are not apathetic, but do feel impotent when it comes
to politics . They still care, yet they feel "pushed out" of
virtually every area of the political process. Citizens no longer
see that they have a role in politics.
Americans have not turned their backs on civic duty. Citizens do
engage in specific areas of public life -- mostly in their
neighborhoods and communities -- but only when they believe they
can make a difference and help bring about change. By and large,
citizens do not believe that this opportunity is present in most
areas of political action today.
Reconnecting citizens and the political process will take more
than legislative changes that attempt to make the system and its
loyalists more accountable. Citizens recognize they must do
their part, but new political conditions must be created if they
are to engage in politics. Citizens want changes made in how
politics is conducted in this nation.
Citizens and Politics outlines an agenda for furthering
discussion on how we can bring Americans back into the political
process and begin to restore public confidence in politics. The
agenda is ambitious. The work will not be easy; there are no
quick fixes. Time is indeed a key ingredient. All of those who
have a stake in politics in America -- individuals and
institutions alike -- will need to play an active role. What is
encouraging, this study has revealed, is that to a surprising
degree Americans appear ready for this discussion and want to
participate in improving the nation's political health.
Specifically, in Citizens and Politics, Americans describe in
their own words the following conditions.
CITIZENS BELIEVE THEY ARE DENIED ACCESS TO POLITICS
Citizens want to participate in politics, but say they are shut
out of the political process. They feel cut off from political
debate. They do not see their concerns reflected as current issues
are discussed, nor do they find issues framed in terms they
understand. They have lost faith in available means for
expressing their views -- public meetings, surveys, letters, and
questionnaires. They see these avenues for public expression as
window dressings, rather than serious attempts to hear the
public; in the eyes of citizens, such misguided efforts to engage
the public often do more harm than good. Many citizens now find
themselves at a loss about just how to participate in politics.
They even question the usefulness of voting.
CITIZENS SAY POLITICS IS A SYSTEM SPIRALING BEYOND THEIR CONTROL
Americans assert that politics has evolved into a "system," a
leviathan made up of all-too-powerful special interests,
lobbyists, and political action committees that act as the real
power brokers in politics; expensive and negative campaigns that
turn people away from the political process; and media that seem
to promote controversy and sound bites over substance. Citizens
argue that politics has been taken away from them. It is, they
say, a hostile takeover. This system of institutions and
political forces has seized control of the political process and
driven a wedge between citizens and politics.
CITIZENS AND PUBLIC OFFICIALS: A SEVERED RELATIONSHIP
A deep sense of mistrust and neglect pervades citizen attitudes
about public officials. Citizens perceive that public officials
seldom "level" with them -- there is a lack of straight talk;
that public officials operate within a context of self-interest;
and that they are captives of special interests and lobbyists.
Americans now say they are losing their connection to their
public officials -- and thus to the political process. Of
course, citizens do not believe that each and every public of-
ficial is corrupt or misguided; but, perhaps even more troubling,
there is a fundamental lack of trust and confidence in public
officials as a group.
CITIZENS BELIEVE THAT POLITICS IS LARGER THAN THE INDIVIDUAL
Many Americans see little room for themselves within politics.
They believe citizens have a limited voice, if one at all, in
helping to shape responses to the demanding issues before
society. In fact, citizens say the political agenda is set by
others; the only time they might be heard is when they decide to
organize into groups and raise large sums of money -- like
"special interests" -- and angrily protest policy decisions. The
notion of politics as public debate, the idea of reasoning
together, is now absent from Americans' view of the political
process and how they think it operates. Instead, citizens abstain
from engaging in various facets of politics, even though they
maintain a strong desire to participate.
BUT CITIZENS DO PARTICIPATE IN PUBLIC LIFE -- WHEN THE RIGHT
CONDITIONS EXIST
Despite this pervasive sense of political impotence and
frustration, Americans still participate within the public arena.
They do so in many ways, and with great intensity of purpose. But
they participate only in specific areas (found mostly on a local
level) when they believe that a fundamental political compact
exists to suggest that,"When I participate there will be at least
the possibility to bring about and witness change." Many of their
actions are political in nature -- organizing a neighborhood
association, working to solve educational problems, learning
about and debating local issues -- but Americans want clearly to
distinguish what they do, from politics as usual. They do not
want to be associated with politics in any way. This citizen
action underscores the reality that Americans are not apathetic;
they want to engage in politics, in the broadest sense, but only
if the right conditions exist.
SEEING THE PROBLEM OF POLITICS ANEW: THE NEED TO REDEFINE THE CHALLENGE
The voices heard in Citizens and Politics tell a compelling
story. They indicate the need to redefine how we see the problems
associated with politics:
The challenge before us today is to reconnect citizens and
politics -- to find a place for citizens in the political
process. This requires changing the conditions that shape our
political environment. Merely making adjustments in
campaign finance, ethics codes, term limits, and other laws will
not address the underlying problems Main Street Americans find in
politics.
Six conditions emerge from the citizen discussions for promoting
the nation's political health. Just how these conditions are
created will be a matter of much discussion and deliberation and
some experimenting. The answers are not self-evident. A penchant
to make quick legislative changes or technical adjustments will
not solve these problems -- there is no single magical answer.
Indeed, they cannot be met overnight. Above all else, then, we
must recognize that it will take time to create the conditions
that will lead to improving politics.
Because there are no clear and simple answers to our political
troubles, this research indicates that the moment has come for a
national discussion on how we can act effectively to improve the
practice of politics in America:
#1: To find ways to refocus the political debate on
policy issues -- rather than placing so much emphasis on
political scandals, mudslinging, and
personalities -- and to frame and talk about those
issues in ways that enable people to understand
how they affect their everyday lives.
#2: To find ways for citizens to form a public voice
on policy issues -- a voice that is informed and
deliberative and represents a public view on issues and
moves the political debate beyond considering just
special and organized interests --
and to create ways for public officials to hear that
public voice.
#3: To find new public places for citizens, and for
citizens and public officials, to convene and
discuss policy issues -- including neighborhood
groups, trade associations, the workplace, and
other places where people now find themselves
coming together in our changing society.
#4: To find ways of encouraging the media to focus
more on the public dimension of policy issues --
helping Americans understand policy issues by
providing a context to news reports and exploring why
issues are important to citizens.
#5: To find ways for citizens and public officials to
interact more constructively by seeking to change
how citizens and public officials view each others' role
in the policy process, interact in such
places as public meetings, and how they communicate
with one another in the political process.
#6: To find ways of tapping Americans' sense of
civic duty to improve our political health --
encouraging citizens to join in bringing about the
needed changes in our political process and
demonstrating that they can act effectively by
drawing on their community experiences and actions.
Some readers will think this analysis idealistic. But this study
clearly reveals that Main Street Americans now yearn for a place
in politics. What is holding people back is not that apathy is
rampant, nor that civic duty is dead. Americans are not
indifferent to political debate and the challenges our nation
faces. Rather, they want to have a voice in politics -- a real
voice. They want their views to be heard and considered in
setting the course of this nation and their communities. Citizens
merely seek the possibility to help bring about change. The
challenge: creating the political environment in which that can
occur.
METHODOLOGY
Citizens and Politics is based on a series of ten focus group
discussions with citizens. To ensure geographic diversity,
discussions were held across the nation in Richmond,
Philadelphia, Des Moines, Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle, Memphis,
Denver, Boston, and Indianapolis. Each discussion consisted of
about 12 citizens, representing a cross section of age, race,
income, and education. The discussions were led by a trained
moderator, with each discussion lasting about two hours.
Some of the discussion groups were conducted after the conclusion
of the recent Persian Gulf War in order to determine if the war
had any effect on citizen attitudes about politics. These focus
groups indicated that citizens in no way -- at least on their own
-- connect the conclusion of the nation's war effort to the
health of American politics. Instead, the discussion groups
suggested that citizens continue to view politics with the same
sense of frustration, anger and impotence that was found in
earlier discussions. And they reflect strong citizen desires for
making fundamental changes in how we practice politics;
legislative initiatives, while important, will not address the
underlying concerns now troubling citizens.
KETTERING FOUNDATION AND THE HARWOOD GROUP
The Kettering Foundation is a nonprofit operating foundation,
chartered in 1927, that does not make grants but welcomes
partnerships with other institutions (or groups of institutions)
and individuals who are actively working on problems of governing,
educating, and science. The interpretations and conclusions
contained herein, represent the view of the author or authors and
not necessarily those of the Foundation, its trustees, or
officers. Citizens and Politics is the third in a series of
reports that are part of the Foundation's ongoing initiative
exploring the relationship between citizens and their government.
The two earlier reports, both prepared by The Harwood Group, were
The Public' s Role in the Policy Process: A View from State and
Local Policymakers; and Citizens and Policymakers: Observations
from the National Issues Forums. A study on public meetings is
now under way; it will result in the creation of tools for public
officials to engage the public in discussion on policy issues.
The Harwood Group is a small public issues research and
consulting firm based in Bethesda, Maryland. It works with public
and private sector organizations to define complex public issues,
understand the attitudes and perspectives of individuals and
groups affected by the issues, and develop policies, programs,
and strategies that promote sustainable change.
For a copy of Citizens and Politics, write: Citizens and
Politics, Kettering Foundation, 200 Commons Road, Dayton, Ohio
45459, 1-800-221-3657.
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