ABSTRACT
President Carter does change his views on substantive policies, such as tax reform, medical care, and busing. A major Carter campaign criticism of President Ford was that he "allowed the nation to drift without a goal or purpose." President Carter prefers to make changes comprehensively rather than "timidly or incrementally." In agriculture, the greatest need is a "coherent, predictable and stable government policy relating to farming and the production of food and fiber." Carter's strain toward simplicity has led him to advocate reorganization of the federal government. The practical embodiment of Jimmy Carter's administrative theory is zero-base budgeting. Interviews with participants in zero-base budgeting in Georgia reveal that, when fiscal conditions changed in 1974 and 1975, Carter asked for entirely new budget submissions. The most worrisome aspect of Jimmy Carter's theory of public policymaking is his assumption that discussion will lead to agreement on long-term objectives, which will assure support for present programs.
