The Role Of Interest Groups In The American Political System

Interest groups are playing a very crucial role in all democratic governance. However, Lobby or interest groups should be limited on how they influence the law making processes in the State of Texas. Some of the areas they influence are very critical and should have limit as to which they can influence their legislation. groups are very different from each other in terms of their recourses, size, tactics, age, ideological focus, geographical coverage and sophistication. So assuming that they represent a large group would be a big mistake. No matter how much they are limited, interest groups do not act in the best interests of the democracy. They only serve what their members feels is right. According to one of the links, lobbyists are seen as salespeople whose aim is to solely influence the law makers.

Interest groups have long since been known to utilize the research available that benefits their specific cause consequently advancing an agenda unique to them. The National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ) and the National Association for Health and Fitness (NAHF) are two such organizations. While both groups share a common interest for the welfare of Americans as a core value that each is deeply rooted in, they do not share the ideas as to whom specifically should benefit from aid or how said individuals would receive such assistance. These groups will need to overcome differences in order to effectively combat specific topics that are known for causing a dramatic effect on American society. One specific topic of increasing controversy

Interest groups are groups of people who share the same views on public matters and work to shape public policy. Interest groups, sometimes called “pressure groups,” try to influence public policy. In doing so, they are more powerful than a few people acting alone could ever be. Interest groups are found everywhere in America and are involved with almost every level of government. The United States has many different cultures, religions, and ethnic groups. Members of these communities shape public policy both negatively and positively by joining or supporting an interest group. An interest group affects democracy in more negative way than a positive way most of the time depending on how you feel about the said group.( McClenaghan 242)

The word democracy in actuality means “the rule of the people” as a form of government where the people have central foresight and control. Interest groups are people driven organization who collaborate on an interest and promote it through influencing the Federal government. Interest groups work coherently within the democratic process because it is an accessible outlet for the people to donate, participate and contribute to groups that share the same interest. These groups can then go lobby in prosecutes to pass a policy.

The act of lobbying can be beneficial to both the interest group and Congress, in some occasions. First, they provide important information on their targeted policy, giving Congress an expertise on policy areas they have to concern themselves with. Second, the groups can actually help politicians with strategies to get the legislation through. Members are able to confide in the interest group. Also, members of the group help a politician's campaign by telling he or she about what typical working people want and they may volunteer in the campaigning process. Lastly, groups can be influential in ideas and innovations.

I don’t have a strong opinion on if interest groups are important or not, but I would have to say with a little research I am leaning more towards saying they are important because they are such a major part of the process. I do think that they can be beneficial because they can voice their opinion that could be good for the people before the people actually know about it. I think it also depends on the person who is part of the group. If the person is well known then more people will go along with that person over someone who isn’t as well known. A bad thing about interest groups is that sometimes topics can get blown out of proportion and end up starting something big that shouldn’t have turned into a problem in the first place. Although

The last piece of evidence that supports interest groups’ influence in American politics is their popularity among the people. Considering their enormous amount of members having the support of an interest group is a must. Interest groups represents the people’s voice in politics. Interest groups support issues that are undeniable like the need for clean air. Everyone wants clean air, less pollution, and even clean bathrooms. Even though there are so many accual members interest groups has a lot of supporters that free ride off of them. Even though the term free riding is a problem this still doesn’t undermine the huge support these groups have. In the long run, interest groups help candidates keep up to date on issues the people really care

There is a distinct influence on how special interest groups impact law maker’s actions. When making campaign contributions, special interest groups gain the support of candidates to support their causes if they win the election. Candidates promise to support political action committees (PACs) when they are in office and these PACs help them determine what the important issues are at election time. Special interest groups usually contribute to those who have helped them before and those who serve on committees or subcommittees that routinely consider legislation of concern to that group.

When trying to come up with a definition for interest groups it is rather difficult. The reason it is so toilsome is because that interest group is a very ambiguous term. This research paper will be going with the quintessential definition of interest groups and that is “A group of people who try to influence politics or the policies of government, business, etc., in a way that helps their own interests” (Webster’s Dictionary). There are also very many different ways that people believe that interest groups operate, ways people join and the different types of interest groups. I am going to subscribe to the way Mancur Olson stated. To sum up his work he stated that interest groups are formed after peoples’ own self interest and will only go after those interest if it benefits those people who are involved in the group. The group formed due to the fact that multiple people have the same interest and they formed together to get their collective interest furthered. He also noted that there are three different types of groups: privileged groups which are groups that would get more out of a good if it was publically provided instead of the group providing it, intermediate groups which if a

I do not think that it is beneficial at all. In general, interest groups are run by few people that just look for more profit. The ultimate goal is to get more money and it is not a surprise that they put everything that they have in their hands in order to have new laws and programs that could benefit them. Clear examples are drug and health companies, they control the supply of medicine and the medical services, what result in exorbitant prices that are just affordable for some people.

An interest group is simply a group of people whose goal is to influence the policies of government in a way that is helping their interests.

I believe that interest groups is a benefit to democracy. They play a very important role and allow people who believe in common concerns or issues to all join and work together to achieve their goals. Interest groups give people freedom to voice their recommendations and beliefs. This lets the interest groups secure their freedom. Another benefit of interest groups is that they can influence the legislators and come up with favorable resolutions. But most importantly the people are given the power to express their thinking.

Interest groups are organizations that work to influence programs and policies within the government (Champagne and Harpham 163). One of the ways that they achieve this is through bundling. Bundling is the practice of individuals coming together and combining their funds with those of an interest group (Champagne and Harpham 165).The combining of funds allows for more opportunities such as being able to get more information on policies and allows for the interest group to build up relations which helps them to increase their influence in politics. Having this kind of continuity and funds allows for more success in an interest groups endeavors (Champagne and Harpham 165).

Political parties and Interest groups are very crucial in our politic life. The role they play is even though important can hurt democracy at the same time, based on the effect they have on elections and the balance of power between the groups’ financial capacities and abilities to raise money for campaigns. According to the text book new candidates are facing real challenge because of the incumbents who are already functioning in the House and known to the political world. Added to that, party leaders prefer to go with the incumbents than financing the candidates unable to raise money. The interest groups are more focus on white collar people the so called upper middle and upper class which is one reason they are considered as bias. Meanwhile,

The organization I’ve decided to research was the group, Human Rights Watch. Founded in 1978 with the aid of Helsinski Watch, an organization that adopted a way to publicly call out abusive governments through media. There have been other committees, Asia Watch, Africa Watch and Middle East Watch, earning the name “The Watch Committees.” They have all came together to create a bigger project, The Human Rights Watch.