Should Public Policy Center on Society’s Well-Being?

Abstract

This article looks at the future of public policy in the US and proposes that our preoccupation with neoliberal values should be supplanted by the values of dignity, compassion, and well-being. It invokes the field of therapeutic jurisprudence as a frame for policy analysis and discusses a wide range of policy issues, including public budgets, workplace anti-bullying legislation, immigration policy, health care, and the minimum wage.

Note: This article appeared in the first issue of The American Commentator, an online magazine published by the Americans for Democratic Action Education Fund, a progressive political and policy education group on whose board the author serves.

Keywords: Public policy, legislation, therapeutic jurisprudence