Discerning the Public Interest

Abstract

Three approaches to increasing government awareness of and responsiveness to the values, preferences, and needs of individual citizens are proposed. The first is that all activities of government employees have "public service" as their primary objective, and that to this end all government employees act as ombudsmen on behalf of the citizens with whom they come in contact. The second is that an annual national survey be taken based on questions of concern to citizens in order to generate indicators of citizen satisfaction with major areas of government activity and to provide public guidance for national priorities. The third is that special surveys be undertaken before legislation is written and before implementing projects or programs that might significantly change the social or environmental conditions of a community. These are offered as partial steps toward improved public service. Needed in addition are good people in government—those who value the interests of the public—and empirically sound instrumentalities that will accomplish public interest objectives.