Campaign Influences

The United States has experienced fundamental changes that are dramatically detrimental to democracy. Voters’ ability to define political discourse has been so diminished that even decisive election results like Barack Obama’s in 2012 have little impact. That’s because powerful interests — freed to, in effect, buy elections, unhindered by downsized and diffused media that must rely on revenue from campaign ads — now set the rules of engagement. Lobbying involves working to bring pressure to bear on policy makers to gain favorable policy outcomes. In order to accomplish their goals, interest groups develop a strategy or plan of action and execute it through specific tactics. The particular strategies developed and the specific tactics used, however, vary widely both among and within political

Interest groups attain a reputation for being powerful through their membership size, their financial resources, and their strategies and tactics.

Many controversial topics have surfaced recently, but one that tends to fly under the radar is lobbying. Lobbying is defined as a group of persons who work or conduct a campaign to influence members of a legislature to vote according to a group’s special interests (“Lobby”). Although average citizens are not fully aware of the issue, it is quite contentious in politics. For those who are against it, they believe that restrictions should be placed on lobbying because it distorts democracy. Lobbyists use money and cost-effective strategies to sway the opinions of lawmakers. Others see lobbyists as effective, political tour guides who help pass legislation. An analysis of the lobbying process reveals the outcomes are often

According to a survey conducted by FORTUNE on lobbyists, lawmakers and staff of the lawmakers found the that aforementioned groups consistently ranked the NRA as the second most powerful interest group in the United States. Furthermore, the NRA (National Rifle Association) spends around three million dollars annually according to Opensecrets. Even if you disagree with the beliefs of this interest group, they do show how an interest group can exercise influence without spending large amounts on lobbying.

Wayne, Lasser, Miller and others tend to agree that lobbyists and PACs have a great amount of influence over congress members because they may have direct connections and give campaign contributions. Recently, the airlines industry convinced congress to pass a $15 billion aid package it needs in order to survive. “The airlines had plenty of resources to draw on: 27 in-houses lobbyists, augmented by lobbyists from 42 Washington firms, including former White House aides and transportation secretaries, as well as the airlines own chief executives and corporate board members, whom all are well known in the halls of congress”(Wayne, NYT, 10/01/01. Lasser, American Politics, 1999. Miller, The American Prospect, 10/23/00. Geiger, Washington Post, 11/4-10/91.)

The influence and results demonstrated well- coordinated approach despite law regulations and restrictions. According to law, AIPAC is also prohibited to endorse particular candidates; however, AIPAC clearly decides on funding through private funds or PAC’s network. In order to avoid reference to AIPAC, political fundraising via numerous channels reaches the final goal: victory of a preferable candidate. Although direct lobbying is restricted under the US law, its existence represents a form of political action and a way of securing particular decision-making process. As such, lobbying is part of the US political process, with variety of special interest- groups advocating for their causes- the same way AIPAC does. Due to the sensitivity of

The rise of special interest groups activities will be primarily altering the more political landscape in Washington D.C. which will increase the influence of SIGs in Congress. This increase in power will expand the opportunity to be more involved in decision making with regard to federal management in the future (Smith, 1995). The current tactics and strategies that are used by SIGs represent potential threats to the future of federalism. For example, SIGs invest in campaign contributions as a pressure device to affect the behaviors of legislators and individual member of Congress. This solid tactic will grow the representation of SIGs in Congress ((Smith, 1995). Also, lobbying activities forms another impact that could be invested by SIGs

We start this essay with this famous quote from Berry introducing us to what exactly an interest group is. Indeed in general, public opinion and people unaware of an interest group’s actions might regard interest groups in a negative light. The more famous interest groups can tend to generate a lot of negative publicity. For instance, in the US one of the most famous interest groups is the National Rifle Association, which defends the right to bear weapons. This, of course, has led to controversy especially given the recent high school shootings in

The clash of differences in opinion and ideologies fueled by money and emotion build heightened tensions between groups. The Clinton/Trump race has ballooned into a no holds barred brawl between a political and an economic powerhouse. However; as it often is, things are not always as they seem at first glance, because many things behind the scenes fuel the ferocity of the battle between these individuals. One of these things is interest groups.

It is believed that lobbyists have an immense influence on Congress and individual state legislatures. Lobbyists are defined differently by each state and territories, however, they all share a basic definition of lobbying as an effort to impact government action. Lobbyists can be either constituent groups, corporate employees and government officials, non-profit staffers or idealists, and registered lobbyists working for a lobbying firm. The sole purpose of lobbyists is to influence legislators’ agendas, become experts in latest news, establish relationships and study power, provide policy solutions to public problems, and build coalitions on behalf of their clients. Lobbyists are known to be the hackers in our system of government. Lobbyists

One key debate among the authors is what is actually influenced by lawmaking. On one hand, Hansen (1991) takes the perspective that lobbying influences the relationship between interest groups and lawmakers. Hansen bases his argument on the belief that because legislators want to be reelected and they lack information about the “issue preferences of their constituents, the salience of issues to their constituents, and the effectiveness of various policy options,” they will seek information to reduce this uncertainty. The service that interest groups provide the, is this information. Certain interest groups, Hansen argues have “competitive advantage,” (p. 13) in the sense that they can provide certainty about constituent beliefs in an efficient and effective manner, in order to help lawmakers get reelected. Given that elections re-occur, an additional point Hansen makes is for interest groups to have some kind of influence over lawmakers, the conditions that provide this competitive advantage must be expected to recur. When these conditions are met, interest groups

People are important for the success of democracy. After electing their representatives, some individuals wish to be more involved in legislative decisions that affect them, so they take to lobbying and joining interest groups. This often provides them with an atmosphere of individuals who think like they do, while also allowing them to play more of a role than just voting for a few people to represent them. Lobbying and interest groups also allow for issues to be brought to the attention of the legislature and provide a way for these groups to talk to the legislators, whether it is over dinner or at a concert. By voicing their opinions and placing pressures on the legislation, these groups have become successful in fighting for their passions and their views on important

Interest groups and advocacy groups have an undeniably strong influence in Washington, and while the results of lobbying efforts are not often touted, they sway policy in areas like energy, housing, public finance, education, gun control and many more. These interest groups may represent parochial interests, but there is surely an area of policy that matches most splintered-off factions. While they’ve been portrayed as shadowy forces in lawmaking, “Interest Group Influence on US Policy Change: An Assessment Based on Policy History” by Matt Grossmann attempts to quantify and

Political parties and pressure groups are dependent upon one another. Interest groups find the parties an important method of gaining access to those in public authority, and the parties need the support of groups to elect and maintain themselves in power. The loose party structure and the nature of the federal system foster a chain of continuous relationships between the two. Interest groups participate in both nonpartisan and partisan primaries and general elections through candidate endorsement, providing campaign funds, and general campaign activity. Interest groups are particularly interested in programs and seek to influence party platforms and may provide speech materials for candidates. There is some attempt on the part of both to infiltrate each other though rarely has an interest group been able to capture complete control of a party organization. The overlapping memberships help to educate the parties about the interests of the private groups and vice versa, and provide some cross-fertilization of ideas as well as manpower assistance. Political parties have a prime function of accommodating the demands of the private interests into the larger public interests (Bone. A, 1958).

Americans hold sacred their freedom over all else and many have fought fervently to protect it even to their own death. Yet our freedom and our protected rights are at odds with the power and influence of money at all levels of government; none more obvious than those in Washington. It is precisely this freedom that makes the concept of interest groups and lobbyists a part of our democracy’s dilemma. In “The Interest Group Society,” Jeffrey M. Berry and Clyde Wilcox state: