This analysis examines initiatorsof specific issues within one large and encompassingpolicy domain in Congress, agriculture. The data arefrom an extensive survey of congressional members andstaff from stratified random samples of 113 individualoffices. One purpose is to determine differences betweenmembers with an agenda of new issues and those whobehave as maintainers of existing policy. The analysisalso finds that the circumstances of a postreformCongress enhance the importance of district effects onissue selection. These effects create substantiallymore congressional players within the domain thanwould be (...) expected in much of the literature. Moreover,the behavior of these issue initiators seems largelydetermined by identifiable characteristics of theirhome-district populations. Those and other findings,especially the high rate of initiator success, callinto serious question many existing assumptions aboutexclusivity and specialization in committeedeliberations. It suggests instead that home-stylebehavior comes to Washington politics in ways thatexpand significantly the range of policy players. (shrink)

Two major episodes of farm protest have occurred in the past decade. In each case, protesting farmers have chosen to create new farm organizations rather than express their grievances through one of many existing farm interest groups. The result has been the development of a durable grassroots farm lobby, a hybrid mode of exercising political influence that combines features of interest group lobbying and social movement protest. The first episode saw the mobilization of the American Agriculture Movement (AAM), a nation-wide (...) protest organization devoted to achieving a federal guarantee of parity prices. When AAM's attempt to change federal farm policy failed, it was unable to sustain a high level of member mobilization or organizational activity. This failure is attributed to the lack of a stable organizational structure, the lack of durable membership incentives, and the counterproductive effects of disruptive protest tactics. The second episode of protest occurred in reaction to the farm-debt crisis of the 1980s. Protesting farmers organized numerous crisis groups to provide emergency services to financially distressed farmers. The crisis groups coalesced into the National Save the Family Farm Coalition (NSFFC) in order to exert influence over federal farm policy. It is argued that this coalition structure, along with membership incentives provided by crisis groups through their constituent service programs, may allow this latest farm movement to exert more considerable and durable influence over federal farm policy than AAM was able to do in the late 1970s. The problems of maintaining a national coalition of grassroots groups are discussed and evaluated. (shrink)

In the Winter 1987 edition of AHV, Luther Tweeten characterized the farm sector as personality. In that article, Tweeten addressed the dark side of that personality as it has been manifested through recent farm protest. This is a rejoinder. Its intent is to look more deeply at the farm personality and, by so doing, reject dark personality traits as the sole basis for farm activisim and ideology. The article suggests that there are two distinct personalities, one directed toward power and (...) leadership and another disaffected and tempered to follow any mythology. The conclusion is that social scientists must not only confront myths but also confront displays of power that use myths for political gain. (shrink)

Bovine Growth Hormone has been beset by controversy since before its public introduction. The reasons for this are numerous but all rooted in the economic and policy uncertainty surrounding a transitional agriculture. The major sources of the controversy are outlined in this paper as the author explains how little of the ensuing discussion has been based on positive knowledge of either bGH or its likely farm impact. The paper, as a result, raises important questions about the implications of addressing agriculture (...) policy changes in the highly emotionally charged context of present American agriculture. (shrink)