John W. Kingdon

“Public policy changes in very large leaps, as in the New Deal of the 1930's, the Great Society of the mid-1960's, and the Reagan revolution of 1981. These spasms of reform are interspersed with periods of rest and stasis, as if the participants are exhausted from their exertion and catching their breath. But in any event, this does not look like Darwinian, gradualistic evolution.”

“We still encounter considerable doses of messiness, accident, fortuitous coupling, and dumb luck.”

“Participants perceive swings in national mood, elections bring new administrations to power and new partisan or ideological distributions to Congress, and interest groups of various descriptions press (or fail to press) their demands on government.”

“The opportunity passes if the ready alternative is not available.”

“A good idea catches on, snowballing as it picks up adherents. Sometimes a bad idea does the same.”

“Consensus is built, sometimes very rapidly, by cutting in many and diverse interests.”

“People in and around government sense a national mood.”

“Flowing along independently of the problems and policy streams is the political stream, composed of such things as public mood, pressure group campaigns, election results, partisan or ideological distributions in Congress, and changes of administration.”

“The chances for a problem to rise on the decision agenda are dramatically increased if a solution is attached.”

“Ideas become prominent and then fade.”

“The mere fact of being behind in "the greatest country on earth" is enough to constitute a problem for some people.”

“Somehow, open heart surgery means more to most of us then the Alton, Illinois, Lock and Dam 26.”

“People are sometimes reluctant to take big steps. Apprehensive about being unable to calculate the political fallout, politicians shy away from grand departures.”

“Ideas come from anywhere, actually, and the critical factor that explains the prominence of an item on the agenda is not its source, but instead the climate in government or the receptivity to ideas of a given type, regardless of source.”

“Public opinion may sometimes direct government to do something, but it more often constrains government from doing something.”

“There is nothing automatic about campaign pledges finding their way into public policy.”

“A fair body of scholarship has come to challenge the view that elected officials reign supreme.”

“One goal of a senator or representative is satisfying constituents. Publicity is essential, and one way to get publicity is to push for new policy initiatives.”

“Setting the agenda and getting one's way, however, are two very different things.”

“The agenda, as I conceive of it, is the list of subjects or problems to which government officials, and people outside of government closely associated with those officials, are paying some serious attention at any given time.”