What the author has learned, wandering around in the mists and fogs of the lowlands along the Potomac, is that nothing happens in Congress until there is a will, a consensus, and not just in the leadership, but in the rank and file of both parties that an issue needs to be addressed in a particular way. The problem needs to be explicated until it is clear that it is, indeed, a problem. For most domestic issues, such as education, this can take years, particularly when there is a vague notion of an ill, but not an immediately powerful event to catalyze attention. In many instances, it is several seasons of carefully developed language that begins to shape the solution. There are three levels, or layers, of public policy work that faculty members, through organizations such as the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), need to impact in order to effect the desired changes. The first is the public discourse carried out in local media, in public spaces such as school boards and town councils, and in the informal dialogues at work and play in the communities. The second level of public language is in the policy world of state and national capitols. Finally, the voices of faculty need to impact at the level of legislation.