View Research by Author - Hugh Heclo

Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/HughHeclo

The authors discuss citizens' increasing estrangement from government and propose eight pathways to a government more attuned to current and future needs: (1) freeing the fiscal future; (2) giving social insurance a modern face; (3) making a government for all ages; (4) improving everyone's chance to build financial security; (5) investing in lifetime learning ; (6) increasing the time children spend with adults; (7) supporting the modern family; and (8) fostering a new democratic citizenship. The focus is on how these areas can restore government ownership to citizens and enable the development of a more dynamic public sector.

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.

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.

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