The Government We Deserve: Responsive Democracy and Changing Expectations / Edition 1

by C. Eugene Steuerle, Hugh Heclo, Edward Gramlich, Demetra Smith Nightingale

Overview

Before buying into anyone's vision of where public policy should go, we must think seriously about where we are now. This includes our economic and social structure, our government as a prominent feature of that landscape, and the way we currently make political decisions. The authors' views of where we are now lead them to propose a rethinking of our commitments as a society, our public responsibilities, and our processes for making policy choices—a rethinking that can help make government more responsive to changing expectations and changing needs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780877666769
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	06/29/1998
Series:	Urban Institute Press
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	194
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

Table of Contents

	Foreword	xi
1	Introduction	1
2	Economic Transformations	11
3	Family Transformations	35
4	Government's Changing Capacity to Respond	57
5	Our Changing Political Process	95
6	Rethinking the Role of the Public Sector	125
Appendix	Who Does What? The Changing Shape of U.S. Federalism	173
	Index	187
	About the Authors	193
	Table
	Big-Spending Presidents on Domestic Government: Change in Federal Domestic Outlays as a Percentage of GDP
	Figures
	GNP Growth: Selected Periods
	Real GDP per Worker, 1900-1997
	Rate of Real Annual Family Income Growth by Quintile
	Percent of Assets from Specified Sources for the Near-Elderly (Ages 51-61) by Income Decile
	Annual Consumption for the Elderly and Young
	Baby Bust, Baby Boom, Baby Bust
	Number of Social Security Beneficiaries per Worker Grows
	Deficits--Past, Present, and Future
	Government Employment as a Percentage of Total Employment in U.S. Economy
	Government Domestic Spending, 1902-1994
	Government Revenue as a Percentage of GDP, 1902-1994
	Lifetime Social Security Benefits and Taxes (For High-Income Couples under Current Law)
	Change in the Composition of the Federal Budget, 1950-2002
	Current Path of Mandatory and Discretionary Spending
	Long-Term Federal Expenditures and Receipts as Percentage of GDP
	Lifetime Social Security and Medicare Benefits for an Average-Wage One-Earner Couple (1998 Dollars)
	Communication Technology in American Society
	Public Opinion Polls in the New York Times
	Trends in Political Alienation Indicators
	Confidence in Selected Institutions: Percent Responding They Have a Great Deal of Confidence in These Institutions
	Federal Public Assistance Spending as Percentage of GDP

Editorial Reviews

Takes a visionary look at what it will take to create a constructive national dialog on political choices that the next decade will bring. Explores a sweeping range of concerns and describes eight proposals that would return ownership of the government to the American majority, with chapters on the government's changing capacity to respond, the changing political process, the role of the public sector, and the changing shape of US federalism. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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