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Lobbyists And Interest Groups

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1 Lobbyists and Interest Groups in Texas 2 A pluralist democracy, defined as a way for individuals to band together to find political strength in numbers, is the basis of political parties and interest groups in the United States. Citizens use both of these types of groups to promote and represent their common political ideas and to achieve goals based on their collective views. Since the early 1800s, Americans have tended to join together in groups to form associations with others who held the same views on a wide variety of topics. Early leaders like James Madison feared that citizens might join together to support issues that were contrary to the public good. Based on review of the Texas Tribune and TRSA Political Action Committee web links, …show more content…

3 Individuals are limited to giving no more than $5,200 to any single candidate within a two year election cycle. Individuals instead have more influence on law-makers with votes. One weakness in relying only on individual voting rights to influence the laws that are passed is that often individual citizens are not well-educated on the consequences of their desire to see certain provisions put into law. From that standpoint, there is definitely a place for interest groups to provide education to lawmakers about both sides of an issue. 4 The TSRA Political Action Committee states on their web site that their purpose is to “educate elected representatives, the media, and the public about issues relating to the freedoms guaranteed by the Second Amendment”. This is beneficial to law-makers as long as the interests of parties for and against an issue are represented by an interest …show more content…

As the laws stand currently, interests groups with lots of money, such as the NRA, have a disproportionate amount of power over smaller groups who are not as well funded. I believe the leniency in the requirements of spending by special interest groups can result in representation of small segments of the population who have money to contribute and can leave out citizens who are unable to give money to opposing groups. In this way, the interest groups have more ability to influence politics than individuals have merely through voting for candidates who most closely mirror their personal values and beliefs. The TRSA Political Action Committee is a perfect example of a large special interest group that actively influences lawmaking. They state many specific gun carry bills and laws on their web site that they lobbied to enact. Specifically, they discuss their influence on implementation of SB11, Personal Protection on College and University Campuses. As a student at a public university, I personally feel very uncomfortable knowing that the person next to me has been given the right to carry a firearm on campus. This does not mean that I don’t agree with the Second Amendment right to bears arms. This is an example of an instance in which an interest group has much more influence than I have as an

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Hamilton (2004) argues these opinions in saying, “ Lobbying is a key element of the legislative process- part of the free speech guaranteed under the constitution… lobbying is simply people bonding together to advance their interests” (p. 83). Instead of lobbying being manipulative, as people seem to think, Hamilton explains it as being helpful to Congress and an import part of debates.

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In the past few years, the United States has seen a huge spike in the money spent in federal elections (See Appendix 4.B). Not only have candidates been making greater efforts to communicate their ideas to the American public, but super PACs have also been displaying their support for candidates and their political policies; they do so by using their right to accept unlimited donations from the public and later, use that money to promote certain candidates, or to sway voters in a desired direction. The immense power that super PACs have to sway voters has come under harsh criticism, spurring the creation of new laws and limits on the super PACs in an attempt to keep them in check and to avoid possible corruption. These limits on super

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It argues that interest groups and social movement organizations are able to influence legislators based on their ability to provide them with reliable information. This information is about constituents and expertise in certain policies. There was a survey in which the author designed for local leader’s perceptions of the Christian Coalition. Two variables were included. They were perceptions about Christian Coalition influence of the respondent’s county and perceptions about Christian Coalition influence with the county chair’s state.

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This essay will discuss the impact of lobbyist on legislation in Washington, DC and the amount of dollars spent to influence federal policies. Throughout a normal day in Washington DC, the hustle and bustle of lobbyist is taking place in the Capital building, White House and along K Street, which is the home of many of the lobbying firms. There are special interest groups, corporations and industries that hire in-house lobbyist or lobbyist firms to influence legislation to benefit their cause. For example, some of these causes may include, but are not limited to tax breaks, subsidies and changes to current regulations or laws.

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Because interest groups are protected by the First Amendment, they cannot be outlawed. However, their activities--particularly lobbying and making financial contributions--can be regulated. The 1973 Lobby Regulation Act, amended in 1983, is much more effective than two earlier attempts at regulating interest groups, one in 1907 and the other in 1957. In spite of its more stringent provisions, the total number of persons lobbying is much higher than the fifteen hundred groups and persons who annually register. The rise of bureaucracy requires interest groups to influence key points in government.

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Interest groups lead to pluralism, which critics contend that there is no common good, as there are many conflicting interests in society. What is good for one individual can be bad for other people. Critics also argue that interest groups would interfere with democracy, as they seek out benefits for minorities rather than the greater good of the majority. As interest groups usually have a single track in mind, they would only think about and look at their personal opinions, and not at those of the majority. Another big argument by critics about these groups is that their system can really be effective only for economic interest groups, which normally have greater financial resources at their disposal.

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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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