Letter to the Editor: Let’s talk policy

A favorite word of politicians — “policy.” Lately we have been informed that Biden’s policies were disastrous and the current policies are beneficial and worth having. If one were to look up and attempt to analyze the term “policy,” one would come away with a jumble of explanations of what a policy is, who has policies, who should have policies, what are the characteristics of policies, what do policies do, etc.

A dislike is not a policy, nor is an approval. Now if a person doesn’t like something or doesn’t approve of some behavior, a policy may indeed follow. For instance, you don’t like the fact that Haitians are coming to Iowa to work in our meat packing plants, therefore, you want the government to find ways to discourage them from coming. Unfortunately, there are laws in existence that encourage these Haitians to come and work in meat packing plants. What do we do about that? We create a policy that makes it difficult for them to comply with whatever requirements are necessary for their entry. The laws are still there, but not implemented in the manner intended.

What we do is, we direct the people who are to implement current statutes to cease implementing them in a timely manner or in a manner that creates more difficulty for the people applying. In other words, make it difficult to comply with the requirements that must be met by the people who need to meet them. This would be a policy. A necessary element of a policy is organization. Without an organization to either implement a policy or eliminate a policy, policies are simply unfulfilled wish-fulfillment.

A policy then, can be the effort made to either fulfill a legal requirement or to keep it from being implemented. The current administration’s policies appear to be the latter. The proclamations coming from Washington appear unanimously to be of the type that are meant to inhibit the implementation of the laws as they currently exist. For instance, when you have a policy of detaining an immigrant without a hearing or due process, because they have not met some minor requirement necessary to remain here legally, it is the implementation of a policy.

The executive branch of the United States government, and I will not stop to explain what that is, has immense power with or without particular policies. And when the executive branch of the government has as a policy of delaying, obfuscating, or otherwise disabling the implementation of duly passed legislation as is occurring at present, you have an administration that feels free to do what it wants through policy.

So if one were to determine, for instance, that Biden encouraged immigration and Trump discourages immigration, one would get from that a difference in policy. When you consider policy in this way, you have an executive branch of government which considers the actions of the legislative branch of government as simple suggestions, not legal requirements. The legislature can pass a law requiring certain actions from the executive branch but if the leadership of the executive branch is not thrilled with a particular law, it will be very difficult to implement it — because of policy contrary to its effective implementation.

So there you have it — policy. Sometimes official, sometimes unofficial, sometimes open, sometimes secret, but always influential.

Richard E. H. Phelps II

Mingo