How Do Interest Groups Influence The Government

What are interest groups and how do they influence the government? Well, interest groups are agencies or corporations that are able to lobby their way into influencing government policy. Tactics such as frontloading and political engineering are used to influence these governments. Interest groups also makes it harder to change policies if they oppose what other interest groups or the public want. Because of interest groups, they impact polices in the government using special tactics, and creates more problems in the decision to pass or lay off a policy, which makes it harder to reform. Interest groups as mentioned before are agencies or corporations that influence policy in the government. How do they do that? Well, they use strategies such

Well interest groups play a role in that too. They make it where it’s easier to not change anything at all opposed to actually changing a policy. “Studies show that groups are much more likely to be successful when their goals involve negative lobbying-blocking changes in policy.” (Bianco and Canon 270). One example of preventing reform is the “Washington Monument” strategy. This was used when as Dr. Woods put it, “When the park service was threatened with budget cuts, the first thing we’re gonna do is shut down the Washington Monument.” This means that people won’t let that happen and end up increasing the budget as opposed to threatening it. This is where Woods’s lecture relates to the textbook. Another reason why it is harder to reform is the level of conflict between interest groups. If multiple agencies are pushing for congress to come out with different opinion policies, then nothing can be changed. Congress can’t just choose between groups like these and split voting. It is especially hard with controversial topics like gun control. “The ongoing debate over gun control attracts many well-funded interest groups and coalitions, which support different versions or want no change at all.” (Bianco and Canon 270) The war on drugs is another controversial topic that goes nowhere. Interest groups argue over whether it is better to legalize drugs, or whether to cut down on them. This amounts to nothing being changed, and people

The amount of public attention also determines the level of difficulty it is to change a policy. We already know that more people results in split voting and different opinions, but what about few people? With few people not knowing anything about a request to change something, how can they stop it? “Interest groups are more likely to succeed when their request attracts little public attention. When the average voter does not know or care about a group’s request, legislatures and bureaucrats do not have to worry about the political consequences of giving the group what it wants.” (Bianco and Canon 270). An example given in the textbook involves the National Turkey Federation. Well, “In the winter of 2014, the federation successfully lobbied federal bureaucrats to increase propane supplies to the Midwest states facing record cold temperature, including areas where the federation’s members use propane to heat their barns.” (Bianco and Canon 270). Not a lot of people in the public were interested, so the policy favored the interest group, being the National Turkey Federation, and the policy was spoken to