Policy Proposal & Contentions
Systematic Review
Keep policy proposals conceptually simple and specific.
Bad
•Congress should provide greater incentives for states to preserve lands
from development.
•Welfare reform should emphasize child care.
•Campaign spending should be restricted.
•An educational initiative should be conducted.
Good
•Congress should prohibit any taxation by states of Indian casinos on
reservation lands.
•Congress should abolish the death penalty for federal crimes.
•The United States should pay the back dues it owes the United Nations.
Keep your language direct and concise.
Bad
• Congress should enact legislation to make it a crime
against federal law to discriminate on account of race in who
you rent hotel and motel rooms to.
Good
•Congress should prohibit racial discrimination in the rental
of hotel and motel rooms.
Make sure your contentions are contentions.
•Is each a complete sentence?
•Does each assert that something is true?
•Does the truth asserted strengthen the case for your policy
recommendation?
Good
•The plan would reduce the rate of illegitimate births.
•The policy would be easily enforced.
•My policy is consistent with the First Amendment.
•The spotted owls will all die anyway.
•There is no record of wolves eating children in the United States.
•43% of the benefits will go to the wealthiest 1% of the population.
•Opponents are wrong to argue that the benefits of Head Start can't be
measured past second grade.
•Convert your list of contentions into a hierarchical outline.
•Group your contentions into logical categories. For example:
•economic efficiency — the economic benefits of my policy outweigh the
economic costs;
•social efficiency — the social benefits of my policy outweigh the social
costs;
•equity or justice — my policy treats people equally; my policy gives
people what they've got coming; my policy is fair to all concerned;
•legality — my policy is consistent with the constitution and laws of the
United States;
•political culture — my policy is consistent with values which are widely
shared in the United States;
•my critics – their arguments are incorrect, unpersuasive, or outweighed
by my own.
Write out you policy proposal and an outline
of your contentions.
Make two copies and come see me on
Monday!
Sign up for a time slot today.
Term Limits
• The call for Term Limits is a policy proposal.
• What do we have to do to reach a reasoned
judgment about the wisdom of a policy
proposal?
– We must anticipate the consequences of adopting the
policy and evaluate the relative costs and benefits of
each. After all, a good policy is a policy where the
benefits outweigh the costs.
Consequences of Term Limits
• What are the likely effects on voters?
• What are the likely effects on elections?
– Would it favor one political party over another?
– Would it affect the quality of candidates?
Consequences of Term Limits
• What are the likely effects on who serves in
Congress?
– Would term limits increase the turnover in Congress?
– Would term limits make Congress more or less
responsive to national moods?
– Would term limits advance or retard the election of
women and minorities?
– Would term limits increase or decrease the the
specialized knowledge and experience of members?
Consequences of Term Limits
• What are the likely effects on power balance in
Congress?
– Will power be more or less equally distributed among
members?
– Will members be more or less dependent on staff?
– Will members be more or less dependent on lobbyists?
– Will members be more or less subservient to special
interests?
– How will the career motivations of members be
affected?
Consequences of Term Limits
• What are the likely effects on the power
balance between Congress and the
President?
• What are the likely effects on the power
balance between Congress and the
bureaucracy?
• What are the likely effects on the power
balance between Congress and the courts?
Research:
If you can answer all these questions
– and support your answers with good
evidence – then you can write one great
policy paper on term limits.
Argument:
Questions to be investigated in the research
phase become contentions to be supported
in the argument phase.