Public Administration in American Society - Free Essay with a Speech Analysis

The 2003 State of the Union Address issued by President George W. Bush. The speech was made at a time when the United States was still in panic and devastated by the worst attack on its soil since independence. The Department of Homeland Security had just been formed to heighten internal security. This speech was made at a time in history that America was experiencing a severe economic meltdown and the raging effects of unemployment. The nation was in the path of working on legislation to reform taxation on citizens, health, and corporate crime. Corporate crime had become so prevalent leading to financial crises and collapse of companies like Enron. The United States attention was divided on fighting terror, diseases, and proliferation of nuclear weapons. President George Bush's attempts to prevail upon Saddam Ocean to cease his quest of developing atomic bombs had proven futile leaving him with only one option; to declare war on Saddam.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The president's speech talks about the ethical obligation of the government to its people. Ethics in public administration involves the moral conduct that provides the framework that guides the relationship between the public and the government. Under the codes that define the ethical responsibility in the public administration sector, the government is mandated with the task of compulsory intervention to ascertain that its citizens can access essential services like healthcare and education (Plant, 2018). It is also the responsibility of the government to facilitate the opening and to regulate the private sector institutions that are willing to provide training and healthcare (Plant, 2018). Fighting drug trade and use is also an ethical obligation of the government security and the judicial arm.

The president reiterates the position of the government in ensuring they provide better healthcare, education and participate in fighting drug abuse. The government plans to make the healthcare system efficiently functional. He says,

"These problems will not be solved with a nationalized health care system that dictates coverage, and rations care. Instead, we must work toward a system in which all Americans have a good insurance policy, choose their doctors, and seniors and low-income Americans receive the help they need (THE WHITE HOUSE, 2003)."

The President reaffirms the commitment of the government to wage war on drugs that threaten to destroy a section of the nation by robbing them of their future. He commits, "As a government, we are fighting illegal drugs by cutting off supplies and reducing demand through anti-drug education programs. For those already addicted, the fight against drugs is a fight for their own lives (THE WHITE HOUSE, 2003)."Drugs is addiction renders millions of Americans unproductive.

Promoting social equity and leadership is an essential element of the president's speech. Social capital can be defined as a set of standards that define our relationships with other people and groups. The University of San Francisco defines social equity in public administration as, "the commitment to promote fairness, justice, and equity in the formation of public policy (The University of San Francisco, n.d.)." The government is committed to ensuring that the public institutions serve all Americans with the utmost respect and dignity.

"To lift the standards of our public schools, we achieved historic education reform which must now be carried out in every school and every classroom so that every child in American can read and learn and succeed in life (THE WHITE HOUSE, 2003)."

According to the president, promoting social equity does not end with uplifting the plight of the less privileged alone, but also in ensuring that everyone is treated equally and the laws of the land do not discriminate against any citizen. The President talks of "passing tough reforms" to tame corporate crime. These reforms is targeting the established corporates that are notorious for avoiding taxation.

The implementation of social equity is an essential aspect of ensuring there is a transparent resource distribution framework that embodies fairness and equality. The principles of social equity dictate that all citizens have a voice in matters of national interest (Johnson, 2015). Social equity is measured through the indices of procedural fairness, distributional and process equity together with outcome disparities. The essence of these indicators is to make it practical for the government to adhere to the due process in the protection of her citizens, distribution of resources and service deliveries.

Upholding public values is part of the United States' public administration. In public administration, public values involve the benefits and assistance that an organization is giving to the society (Bryson, Crosby and Bloomberg, 2015). America describes itself as a blessed land regarding resources and opportunities. Through the spirit of compassion, the United States is actively engaged in helping the less fortunate nations the world over (Bryson, Crosby and Bloomberg, 2015). The assistance that the United States offers these other nations involves food aid, security provision, and extended health care.

In the State of the Union address speech, the president informs the public of America's extensive plan to help fight diseases in the mostly impoverished Africa where HIV/AIDS is prevalent, but only 10 percent of the population can access healthcare. To solve this problem, the president suggests the Congress support his suggestion to allocate a total of US $ 15 billion for five years.

America dominates the international food donation, during President Bush's administration, America was responsible for over 60 percent of the total foreign food aid. Besides offering contributions, America's intervention in support of other nations to achieve stability is visible. America has been very proactive in negotiating the peace deal to restore stability and democracy in Palestine and to secure Israel from external aggression. He says,

"The qualities of courage and compassion that we strive for in America also determine our conduct abroad. The American flag stands for more than our power and our interests. Our founders dedicated this country to the cause of human dignity, the rights of every person and the possibilities of every life (THE WHITE HOUSE, 2003)."

Part of America's effective public administrative policies is its ability to formulate workable collaborative governance and network management in democracy. The concept of collaborative governance as the constructive cross-boundary engagement between public and private agencies to achieve a common goal that is in the interest of the public (Daniela, Marco and Norma, 2016). Beyond its internal collaboration with institutions, the American government has partnered with the foreign government in the fight against terror and in the quest for the restoration of democracy that is significantly challenged by the grip of despotic rulers.

The collaborative network that America has built with nations in the Middle East has led to the arrest of many terror group leaders and the members of their militia group in the years that the world has been in a panic over the emergent of lethal violent terror groups. In the early years of 2000, America had liberated Afghanistan from the violent rule of insurgents (Daniela, Marco and Norma, 2016). The coordination that America does with the help of her soldiers and the citizens of goodwill in the affected nation contribute to successful cases of liberation, restoration of democracy and social order.

In his speech, President Bush applauds the triumph of coalition efforts in managing terror threats in all its targeted embassies. Part of his statement reads,

"We are working closely with other nations to prevent further attacks. America and coalition countries have uncovered and stopped terrorist conspiracies targeting the embassy in Yemen, the American embassy in Singapore, a Saudi military base, ships in the Straits of Hormuz and the Straits of Gibraltar... (THE WHITE HOUSE, 2003)"

Public decision-making in the legislative arm of the government affects the overall performance of the administration because it either gives light to or forestalls, the progress of the government (Perri, 2013). In the speech, the president is imploring the Congress to accept and pass the motions that support his budget plans and legislative reforms that would make it legalize his policy proposals.

The president demonstrates his knowledge in the understanding of the model of public decision-making and public participation in America. Every plan that the president talks of is a policy proposal that would still need a rigorous analysis, evaluation and the revision of the Congress to become an operational law. Any dysfunctional working relationship between the executive and the legislature arms of government embodies an impending stalemate in the making and implementation of laws in America (Perri, 2013). It is for this reason that the president is appealing to the principal law-making arm of the government to pass the proposed policies for the interest of the public.

"I thank the Congress for supporting these measures. I ask you tonight to add to our future security with a major research and production effort to guard our people against bioterrorism, called Project Bioshield. The budget I send you will propose almost $6 billion to quickly make available effective vaccines and treatments against agents like anthrax, botulinum toxin, and plague... (THE WHITE HOUSE, 2003)"

The public administration concepts mentioned in this speech are parts of the essential tenets of governance in America. The year 2003 remains a significant part of America's historical calendar because it came at a time when the nation was struggling to overcome severe economic and security challenges. The diplomatic responsibility of the nation to intervene and counter the proliferation of the development of the nuclear missile. 2003 is the same year that the nation exploited its last option to stop Saddam Hussein; by attacking Iraq. Public values of the country give America the excellent image of compassion, endearing them to the world. Ethics in governance makes it easy to deal with vices like corruption; besides, it maximizes output among the leaders. Collaborative governance is a fundamental method of taking the services much closer to the people, enhancing a more effective service distribution. Fostering social equity is integral to preserving the dignity of every American citizen is respected. The cumulative implication of all these mentioned concepts is an enhanced effective governance.

References

Bryson, J. M. (2015). Public Value and Public Administration. Washington D.C: Georgetown University Press. Retrieved July 16, 2018

Daniela Cristofoli, M. M. (2016). Collaborative administration: the management of successful networks. Public Management Review, 19(3), 275-283. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2016.1209236

Johnson, N. J. (2015). Justice for all: Promoting social equity in public administration. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Perri. (2013). EXPLAINING DECISION-MAKING IN GOVERNMENT: THE NEO-DURKHEIMIAN INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK. Public Administration, 92(1), 87-103. doi:10.1111/padm.12039

Plant, J. F. (2018). Responsibility in Public Administration Ethics. Public Integrity, 1-13. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/10999922.2017.1413927

The University of San Francisco. (n.d.). News & Resources &gt...