Influence Of Special Interest Groups In The United States

1 In our country, there are many ways that one can get involved and influence legislation and public policy to further self interests. We can be active on all levels of government: local, state, and national. One way that we may involve ourselves is through special interest groups, which are groups with members who all have a common goal that try to influence government policies. Special interest groups are everywhere, covering almost any issue that there is in our society. Some special interests are so large that they can spend up to millions on lobbying.

According to Merriam-Webster a Special Interest Group is “ a person or group seeking to influence legislative or government policy to further often narrowly defined interests.” In

Often times special interest groups send representatives to promote their ideas and policies. Special interest groups may target officials who have direct roles in passing bills and legislation. These officials include: the policy committee, the state senate, and the state assembly. These players are large components in the legislative process of our state. Representatives from the interest groups will try to influence the law making decisions of these officials or politicians. Another way that they may influence public policy -indirectly- is by contributing significantly to state elections or campaigns. The main goal when engaging in elections is to get specific candidates to win or to get specific legislation passed. There are various ways that interest groups can participate in elections, a big part of this would be by endorsing candidates, and contributing money to their campaigns. By endorsing a candidate, the public can see who the interest group supports. Supporters of these special interest groups see what kind of candidate might help their self interest, thus helping them to decide who to vote for. The same way that interest groups endorse a candidate, they may also endorse a bill or legislation that is up for vote in that election.

I think that special interest groups are a great way to get people to find common grounds on certain issues, and be able to rally together to make changes that involve those issues. Special interest groups are great because anyone can start one, if someone is willing to start one then they will be able to pull it off. Even if your cause is an unpopular one you still have the right to advocate for it, and try to make changes. Although not all interest groups have everyone’s best interest at heart, we all have the right as citizens to rally for whatever we want to. Some big spenders in our state come from the healthcare field. An example of this would be the California Senate Bill 562, which pushed universal health care in our state. Some big contributors to lobbying for this