This article takes on the difficult task of trying to ascertain the practicality of discourse as a means toward establishing a more democratic public administration. Of concern are the methods currently used to evaluate the authenticity of such endeavors, particularly Fox and Miller’s warrants for discourse, which have something of a reliability problem. This particular work suggests the use of more systematic ways to examine discursive behavior, either in lieu of or in conjunction with the warrants. These are called empirical referents, and are inclusion, self-regulation, and policy outputs. Use of these empirical referents is intended to help provide us with a clearer focus for our discourse about the process of policy implementation and the attainment of tenable results.
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