Drugs and Interests of Public

According to Public Agenda, the majority of Americans are worried about a family member becoming addicted to illegal drugs, and that the government is not doing enough to combat this problem. This group is winning the competition against the family in DiPietrantonio’s post in the conflict of getting mass/majority interests on their side. The two groups in this conflict are “anti-drug” and “Pro-marijuana.” The anti-drug group has the majority, and since the issue is on the agenda in their favor, this is an example of the elite/majoritarian Congress exercising its function as representatives of he majority. This is also an example of individual-based Classical Liberalism in conflict with Civic Republicanism, as the pro-marijuana side is looking after the abilities of individuals to smoke it, while the anti-drug group is looking after the stability of the country.

Leaders Call for Peace as Mideast Talks Begin

This article discusses the Middle East peace talks that are being hosted by President Obama. The dominant public philosoply today is classical liberalism (see Birkland, Chapter 1)-the idea that power comes from who the people allow to govern them and public interest. In the article, the public interest of the region is achieving peace, yet both Israelis and Palestinians have different public interests that they cannot see past to achieve the goal of peace. Though we have always agreed with Israel’s policies in the past, it is imperative for them to discontinue settlement on the West Bank; it is decisions like these that need to start being made to have a united public interest.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/world/middleeast/02diplo.html?_r=2&ref=world