Maggie Chamberlain, Chapter 8, Question 7

The entirety of this chapter encapsulated  the answer to the question: "'If people know so much about public policy, then why is everything so messed up?'" The frightening thing about the honest answer is that politicians are always seeking applause, as most of us are, instead of seeking a policy that would be most beneficial to the nation or their community. This was shown in the ethanol example by demonstrating that, regardless of previous beliefs or knowing the harmful environmental truths about pesticides, politicians recognize that, in order to win, winning Iowa's approval is essential, so they support a ethanol subsidy to get the votes of farmers her are strongly in favor of an ethanol subsidy and the bigger chunk of the population who couldn't care less about ethanol. So, this chapter made me view politicians in a different light. I always knew they could be very self-interested, but it was put into a new perspective with real examples.