Cultural Effects of Public Policy

Have you ever noticed the various ways in which our government forms public policy shaping the culture in which we live? Take for example the zero tolerance level of the public school system for students who draw pictures of guns in class, while at the same time we allow such items as pictures of our President with a gun to his head on the wall in a public museum in Chicago. Why the stark contrast? What is the government teaching the children in the public schools? How will practices such as this effect our culture in both the short and the long term?