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Arguments Against Interest Groups

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Interest groups are “organizations whose members have a common cause for which they seek to influence public policy.” The larger interest groups are listened to, according to Scott Reeder of the Times, not only because of campaign contributions but also because interest groups are “organized, passionate groups of ordinary people who speak out.” The role of interest groups in policy is questionable as there are many arguments for and against them. One critical case defending the role of interest groups in government is that interest groups are a vital element of democratic politics and allow citizens to involve themselves further in their government. However, interest groups are also a type of faction warned about by James Madison in Federalist 10 as it may represent interests at odds with the public good. …show more content…

Pluralist theory states that “a multitude of groups, not the people as a whole, govern the United States,” or that many special interest groups all participate as the smallest unit of American democracy. The theory of collective action, on the other hand, states that “large groups of people will organize only if they have some particular incentive: many will simply ‘free-ride’ on the efforts of others.” Basically, in this context, the pluralist theory argues that interest groups are a necessity, raising awareness and joining “different coalitions depending on the specific issues… based in economic… or in other interests,” whereas Olson’s theory of collective action states that “people do not automatically work together to promote their collective interests… so one should expect varying levels of collective action” resulting in the “free-rider problem,” wherein “a person can enjoy the benefits of the good without having to pay for

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Federalist 10 Dbq

243 Words | 1 Pages

Perhaps the most famous Federalist paper, Federalist 10, starts off by saying that one of the biggest arguments that favors the Constitution is that it creates a government suited to minimize the harm caused by factions. Faction, in this case, is defined as a group of people whether a minority or majority based on class, race, and profession that all share a common interest. It was inevitable that factions would occur and perhaps the defining characteristic was the unequal distribution of property. This would ultimately lead the poor without property to become the majority in a “tyranny of the masses.” Madison believed that there were two solutions in preventing majority factions, 1) Remover the causes, and 2) Control the effects.

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Summary Of The Federalist No. 10 1787

701 Words | 3 Pages

Madison states, “the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects.” (James Madison. Federalist No.10 1787.) There are two methods for removing of the orgins for group: Liberty/freedom, which enables groups to constitute, perhaps being toss out, or individuals given equivalent interests, and judgments. Madison asserted that the primary arrangement was absurd and senseless, as it would be more terrible than the underlying issue.

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Interest Groups: National Rifle Association And Brady Campaign

945 Words | 4 Pages

An interest group is a group of people that tries to take action on a political issue or concern. The goal of an interest group is to recruit politicians as endorsements and persuade the government to take action on their respective issue. There are interest groups for mostly every issue or concern for the country. For example, the National Rifle Association and Brady Campaign are both interest groups that are concerned with gun control and gun violence. Both groups have stated their interests in influencing the American government to apply stricter gun laws and reduce the amount of shootings and deaths by firearms by a drastic margin.

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Lieutenant Jimmy Cross In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

1173 Words | 5 Pages

"They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing"(O'Brien 20). The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is a collection of war story that focuses around his life and relationships with people in the Vietnam War, especially the part people usually choose not to focus on: the burden, the guilt and the regret. In the war stories it is forgotten that soldiers that fought in those wars are real people who had to deal with the consequences of their actions. O'Brien integrates this into the book by carving out Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, the highest ranking soldier in their group, to be the scapegoat.

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Chapter Summary: The Federalist Papers By Alexander Hamilton

1223 Words | 5 Pages

Factions which defined by Madison are groups of people who gather together to protect and promote their special

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Summary Of The Federalist Number 10

976 Words | 4 Pages

By assessing the political landscape, he would clearly see the impact of factions found in interest groups and their vast role in American Government. There are thousands of interest groups in America, and they all employ different methods of affecting public policy. Whether their interests are economic, social, or environmental, all interest groups have specific goals and take different steps to enact their goals. From The National Rifle Association, To The American Federation of Teachers, to Greenpeace, interest groups “divide mankind into parties” which are sometimes “inflamed with mutual animosity,” just as Madison noticed in his time and predicted for the future (The Federalist No. 10 p553L). These examples of very different interest groups show how varied their interests can be and how there are so many different groups vying for

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Federalist 10 Summary

449 Words | 2 Pages

Federalist Paper No. 10, which was written by James Madison, addresses the question of how to guard against factions. He defined “factions” as a group of citizens who are united and have a common interest that is dangerous to either the rights of other citizens, or the permanent and cumulative interests of the community. Madison argued that a strong, large republic would be a better guard against these dangers than a smaller republic. Both supporters and opponents of the plan are concerned with the political instability produced by these factions. The most powerful faction will control the government and make decisions based not on the common good, but only to benefit them self.

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Summary Of The Federalist No. 10 James Madison

944 Words | 4 Pages

In the Federalist no. 10 James Madison argues that the iniquity of the government by the people is its exposure to the issue caused by factions. Madison defines factions as any group of people that share the same views and opinions. These factions often assemble together causing violence and damage to secure personal economic investments and enforce their political views. Madison’s main concern with factions is that one might reduce the rights of another or effect the good of the whole in order to protect their own self-interest. When given the freedom to do so, these personal interest are usually at the price of another group.

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Legislative Action (NRA): The Purpose Of Interest Groups

1364 Words | 6 Pages

When the Framers wrote the Constitution, they did not allude to the prohibition or permission of citizen-led groups that could influence the policy-making process. Later, the Bill of Rights was passed, which included the First Amendment, granting the freedom of assembly and right to petition. These two rights allowed for the rise of unrestricted factions, as predicted by James Madison, therefore the natural formation of interest groups. Although the Founding Fathers were all aristocrats who tried to limit the common majority’s power, the simple governmental structure they created had few constraints regarding the public’s power to advocate for their opinions.

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James Madison's 'Federalist No. 10'

875 Words | 4 Pages

In Federalist No. 10, James Madison describes factions as, “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” The main issues that arise with factions are the following complaints of citizens: that the government is unstable, that the well-being of the public is overlooked in the struggles of opposing parties, and that measures are decided by a superior force of a majority, while ignoring the rules of justice. These complaints by factions are found by some degree to be true, and can only be solved by one of two methods: by removing its causes or by controlling its effects. To remove its causes would be to destroy liberty and to control its effects would be to give to every citizen the same opinions, passions, and interests.

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'The Federalist No. 10' By James Madison

173 Words | 1 Pages

In the article “The Federalist No. 10” James Madison a faction is a group of citizens made up of people with the same interests and who don’t seem to care about the rights of other citizens. A lot of people weren’t agreeing when it was said that the United States would be too big to govern as a democracy causing there to be a large amount of factions. James Madison was aware there were a variety of factions, he showed that the democratic side using the majority rule would take down the factions resulting in making them come together to work as one, the republican side would allow the factions the necessary space for them to work together and get elected in the office. The minority groups would be protected because it would indicate the factions

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Democrat Pros And Cons

1109 Words | 5 Pages

The Federalist Papers are some of the most important words that have been written in this history of the United States and were written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison who is responsible for Number 10. Madison focuses Number 10 on factions, their causes, and the result of their existence. Madison beings by stating the capability of the Constitution to control the outcome of factions, such as violence or damage and goes on to state the causes of factions and the solutions to their existence. Madison’s main focus in his paper is factions and their outcomes; a faction is simply a group of people with a common interest, either the “majority or minority of the whole.” Factions originate when people divide themselves over

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Madison's Views On The Federalist Essay

646 Words | 3 Pages

Madison addresses the concerns of the Federalist by first defining factions. “By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” (Madison). Then he suggests that the only two ways to deal with the problem are to either eliminate factions by removing their causes or limit their impact by controlling their effects. From this portion of the essay, my understanding is that since people have their own self-interests and these self-interests clash with others, the government needs to be able to pass laws for the common good of all instead of any one specific group.

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Faction Vs Government

828 Words | 4 Pages

In this paper talks about the interest of our citizens today. In this essay address a question about faction and the opinions of the roles of government. In this federalist paper is about an issue of “faction” because known as special interest. James Madison think faction can have problems by having different forms of government and how government need to be operated. The definition of faction means lower or majority citizens has interest for the community.

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Essay On Texas Government

944 Words | 4 Pages

Interest groups in Texas are relatively powerful actors in the political process. Organized interest groups and their representatives, also known as “the lobby” participates in the policymaking and political processes in Texas. Interest groups provide critical channels for Texans to communicate their political preferences and attempt to influence government actors and their fellow

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