resolution of the problem or letting the problem fade from sight. Getting attention for the problem may be accomplished by a number of processes, including the routine monitoring of social data, the occurrence of certain focusing events, such as a powerful symbol like proposition 209 in California, which called national attention to the accelerating backlash against affirmative action policies, and the feedback from existing programs that can ve obtained through such devices as congressional casework or the ongoing administration of public programs. Programs. Problems typically are defined in terms of values, such as conservative or liberal orientations, comparisons, such as the United States versus Iraq, or categories - for example, is public transit for the disabled a transportation problem or a civil rights problem? Categorizing the problem becomes quite significant in how the problem is resolved.