Even favorable public opinion can be manipulated. Drawing on cultural biases, symbols, and traditions a skilled president can maximize his or her power to implement policies as they see fit. In the context of American liberalism, the meaning of prerogative is that no rights are absolute, no rights are inalienable, regardless of the written law. While the Constitution promises individual rights, at the same time it denies those rights as the discretion of the president. The example given is the incarceration of Japanese Americans by President Roosevelt.
Government influences behavior by shaping the cognitions of people in ambiguous situations.
Maximizing policy strategies is critical for winning the policy game. Each player seeks to influence policy outcomes. The Problem of Policy Resources Robert Dahl has long recognized the existence of economic elites and their influence on the policy process. The result is that democratic processes are dominated by the influence of economic elite, specifically corporate elites. G. William Dumhoff asserts that there is a social upperclass that effectively operates a ruling class by virtue of its having an abundance of economic resources.