Political Interest Groups

Enter your response below: In today 's political arena we hear much talk about political interest groups. When we hear about them many questions arise. What exactly do interest groups do, who do they serve, and are they beneficial? Identifying what they are seems easy, but the answer to many of these questions are complex. To understand the objective of an interest group, is key to creating a successful one. Organizing a foundation of people who want to make their idea known, and share their concerns with public officials is a start. Constituents are going to get involved if first, they are passionate about an idea, but that is not always enough to keep them engaged. Some form of incentive is always offered. Material incentive is the most

The third reason is, purposive reasons. People who join for purposive reasoning is because they wish to attain the goal of the group. For whatever purpose a person joins an interest group the proposals are always an idea that will benefit them, and sometimes can be beneficial to others outside of the group. Of course, members try to influence lawmakers and governmental decisions, so while presenting an argument they focus largely on highlighting the benefits of the idea. The information the lobbyist presents to the official is unlikely to be a lie, because doing so would ruin their reputation, and destroy their trustworthiness for future events, however they may dodge the details that would take away from the pursusation of the law.
Whether it be a member of a single issue interest group, or a public interest group, they both derive from the same idea of an interest group. The idea of of uniting a group of people with a common interest, that engages in politics on behalf of its members. The objective of each group is the same, to gain a law they are in favor of, or change a law that they are

In a single issue group the goal is to satisfy the members of the group and achieve their desires, while in a public interest group they want to help all of the public, regardless if they are a member. They carry concerns for, “the well being of the public, and lobby for ideas such as environmental issues.” The Sierra club is a group who focuses on environmental issues, and their goal is to, “help pass the clean air and water act.” Citizens who are in the Sierra club have joined it, because these ideas have value to them, and when they do an act sufficiently they receive the purposive incentive that they initially joined for. When the constituents are successful, they feel self satisfaction. However, there are many other people who care about the environmental issues they promote, but because it is a public issue they will benefit whether they participate or not. They do not have to contribute money, or labor because it is a public issue, and if they do contribute money to the program, how much more clean water or air will they gain from it. The effect is not substantial enough to make people feel like they are making a noticeable difference, therefore the incentive is not