The public policy process is always a difficult and frustrating experience. While some challenges or issues many have apparent solutions, it is more common for a problem or issue to have different constituents who do not agree easily. As such, the public policy process requires finding a delicate and elusive balance between conflicting interests who ultimately want the same thing (Imperial, 2005). This paper demonstrates the conflicting interests in proposals submitted to the legislature and the public on how to meet the challenges of improving, repairing, and maintaining the transportation infrastructure.
For instance, in Missouri, a proposal has been made to revert the control and maintenance responsibility of the lettered routes to the counties (Cornelius, 2017). Some individuals felt that this proposal would have a negative and disproportionate effect on the rural areas in Missouri. Most of the counties do not have proper assets or resources to take on the additional responsibility of repairing and maintaining the lettered routes system. While the proposal sought to solve an important problem facing Missouri, some constituents argued that its benefits were disproportionate (Cornelius, 2017) . The rural counties have a very small tax base, which is insufficient to cover the costs that they already have; thus, it is unfair for the state to return the upkeep of these roads to the respective counties since the state government ignores the needs of the people in rural Missouri.
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Competing interests play a vital part in the formulation and advocating for public policy primarily by challenging the less brilliant proposals and introducing different perspectives that may be considered when coming up with a more meaningful public policy. For instance, in the case of Missouri, the constituent share the responsibility in designing the public policy that would not be disproportionate to other residents. Although designing public policy is always difficult and frustrating since not everyone will agree on a certain solution, it is vital to stay mindful of the impact of a particular public policy on different areas and constituents.
References
Cornelius, C. (2017, February 24). The state should still maintain lettered routes. News-PressNow . Retrieved from http://www.newspressnow.com/opinion/your_letters/state-should-still-maintain-lettered-routes/article_9c0bbdd6-6dde-528a-9a96-c569740b5a29.html
Imperial, M. T. (2005). Using collaboration as a governance strategy: Lessons from six watershed management programs. Administration & Society , 37 (3), 281-320.
