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Pros And Cons Of Special Interest Groups

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There are a lot of controversies when it comes to Special Interests Groups, but before we dive in what my stand is, I thought it wise to start with the basic which is its definition. For that, I’ll like to start by breaking it into more convenient words, that is, special and interest groups. Interests groups are a set of people who have identified that they share the same values, beliefs, or ideas, and have come together to form a powerful union in order to create a way that will make their ideas, beliefs, or values understood, or realized. Now, where does the word special come in to play, this is because these groups don’t just act in any way, but they act in an organized, specialized, and better way that eventually make their shared values, …show more content…

“Lobbyists must be aware of which bills are appearing before committees and often must contact legislators and their staffs via e-mail or telephone and convincingly present research for or against a bill. In addition, to be effective, lobbyists need to stay current on the issues coming before the legislature. They also must pay attention to news and current events by watching television and other media and by reading newspapers, Internet Web logs (“blogs”), and trade journals.” These therefore means that lobbyists are always ahead of everything thereby are able to predict how policies will affect the general public, and especially the public the special legislator(s) they are targeting represent even more than the legislators or their staff themselves. In addition, though these legislators are normally supposed to be in direct contact with the civilians they represent, the load/demands of their job does not always give them the opportunity for that, and so will preferably welcome help from these lobbyists about policies suggestions. Again, lobbyists have a great need to be honest with their research or dealings because when both the agency they represent, and the legislators they influence are receiving positive feedback, they in turn benefit from that. This again provides a means where most of the population’s voices are heard or taken into …show more content…

For example, the USA freedom Act took steps to alter the Patriot Act enacted after 9/11, and it caused a major battle between privacy advocates, and security warmongers. These steps involved measures which impose more limits on National Security Agency’s (NSA) collection of domestic phone records and required new transparency measures. This bill was met with a lot of opposition, with some republicans fighting to extend the Patriot Act. On the other hand, NSA’s moles, and libertarian group campaign for Liberty said it did not work a way to decrease mass surveillance (which is a breach of privacy and liberty) thereby encouraging congress to abolish it, which is what happened. In addition, the fact that special interest groups pressurize legislators to pass bills does not necessarily mean that all their bills will be passed. For example, in 2015 when President Obama help environmentalist by rejecting the ‘Keystone XL pipeline.’ This project was a subject of an intense quarrel between the green groups and the business and labor interest +groups. It was meant to transport oil sands from Canada to the Gulf Coast, and though it was fiercely pushed by energy industries (very rich industries), Republicans,

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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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I think that before reading this book, I did not see lobbyists in a very positive light just because it’s always something that I have associated with deceit. Yet, the way that they are portrayed in the book was the opposite of what I thought they were. Rosenthal discusses how lobbyists have to be honest because senators do utilize them as a source of information and the lobbyists do want to have a positive relationship with the senators. I think that the relationship between the lobbyists and the senators is what stuck out the most to me. I also thought it was interesting that the book went in depth not only about the basic function of a bicameral legislature, but also about what senators need to think about and how they make decisions.

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1. Lobbyists are hired and paid by special interest groups, nonprofits, and companies to exert influence over elected officials at all levels of government. 2. The “revolving door” is when employees from public sector jobs move to private sector jobs and vice versa. 3.

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1. They are important source of information. A member who is part of congress has to evolve themselves with many policy areas. But a lobbyists can confine themselves to one area and can by providing specialized expertise. If the information is powerful, then the lobbyist can be an allies. 2.

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While choosing electing official with common values and philosophies is a great way to get representation on social issues, interest groups are also helpful in keeping an open line of communication with elected officials on what is most important to the affected group. Interest groups use tactics to protect policies by focusing on the unknown consequences and keeping close relationships with government officials whose values are similar (Baumgartner, Jeffery, & Hojnacki (2009). One interest group who has knowledgeable lobbyists to affect public policy is the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA is a single issue group who advocates their position by using both the direct and indirect approach to rally support on issues in Congress.

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A political interest group also called an advocacy group, lobbying group, pressure group, or special interest group is determined to persuade or prevent changes in public policy. They have shared ideas and try to influence change in policy. The American political system no longer operates with the American people in mind. Instead, lobbyists and special interest groups govern America, according to their own agendas, not the wishes of the people. Lobbyists and special interest groups buy up support from elected officials in order to push their agendas through.

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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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Today, we still find significant concerns for how vast and powerful interest groups and their associated PACs have become over the past few decades, and their far reaching ability they have to affect even the highest court in the

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Out of all of the political relationships between individuals which exist in the American political system, one of the most critical is that which exists between the lobbyist and legislator. To the average citizen, the foundation of America’s political process centers on the understanding, examination, and transfer of influence between politicians and representatives of public or private special interest groups. (Patterson, 2009) What is unseen by the average citizen is the multibillion dollar political industry developed by lobbyists for the benefit and information exchange on their special interests at the federal, state, county, municipal, and even local levels of government. The allure of lobbying at the federal level is because federal

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Some lobbyist actually do care what people want and have in mind. We should all think twice before thinking on judging on a lobbyist and not knowing what cause his money is going

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The following analysis will expand upon one of the congressional caricatures observed in Hamilton 's article: the act of lobbying misrepresents the public 's opinion and should not be endorsed. Hamilton proposes a precisely balanced approach to lobbying. He states that lobbyists are principled people who play a large part of focussing the public 's attention on significant issues and are key to helping Congress members stay informed. He emphasizes that those who practice lobbying do so, in the open, as part of "the broader policy debate" (as cited in Stinebrickner, 2015, p. 117). As a previous member of congress, Hamilton 's opinion on the matter is soon justified and I agree with him.

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According to William T. Bianco and David T. Cannon’s American Politics Today, research suggests that “interest groups have very little influence”, and “there is no correlation between the amount of money spent on lobbying and a group’s success at achieving its policy goals.” However, two important points must be made in light of these facts. First, the data that is collected to show the amount of money spent on lobbying does not include loopholes that are exposed and allow for lobbyists to avoid reporting gifts made to policymakers. Second, the data only covers lobbying, and as has been discussed, a massive portion of the money spent on influencing policy is spent through election supporting, or Super PACs.

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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.

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There are two observable statuses of the nature of lobbying: the sides created by the division of the policy process are heterogeneous in nature, implying that the structural concept of organizations within one side could have internal, unresolved situations that might not match these organizations individually in terms of interests (p. 199) and the strong contrasting view between changing and establishing a policy, which in focus of the former, details that lobbying is about trying to exact change within a particular policy, and not in its creation (p. 200). Zoning in on how the attention provided by lobbying is important, the consideration of the policy process entails a critical step, which establishes priorities, specifically found on the agenda-setting stage of the policy process. This is where policymakers consider which identified problem warrants attention and a required solution, as well as which identified problem is insignificant for the timebeing, or is generally manageable (p. 201). The attention-grabbing power of lobbying

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In The Truth About Our Little White Lies, Karen S. Paterson quotes psychologists Jerald Jellison of the University of South Carolina in Los Angeles, B. L. Kintz at Western Washington University in Bellingham, and Dr. Irving Baran of the USC San Diego Medical School, in regards to the amount of small fibs we say on a daily basis. Paterson states, “We lie so often, with such regularity and fluency, so automatically and glibly that we’re not even aware we’re doing it.” In making this comment, Paterson argues that we lie constantly and effortlessly. So much so, that we do not recognize we are doing it. In a way, we become unconscious to those fifty plus lies we tell a day.

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