Problem
What factors influence which problems get addressed by our legislatures at state or federal levels? What influences members of Congress the most in making decisions? Is it their own political ideologies, media, constituency views, the stance of business and other interest groups, their sense of how their votes might affect their re-election chances or the broader public opinion in the nation? Much of the policy analysis that is used in public debates today come from interest groups that are strongly committed to one side of the issue or another or from think tanks that espouse a particular ideology on the left or the right. Do you think these policy commitments make the quality of the analysis suspect? Why or why not?