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Interest Groups Essay

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An interest group is an organized group of people that come together to attempt to influence policymakers in any level of government. They influence the different levels of government by giving money to a political candidate. They write letters, emails, and make phone calls to the policymakers. They attempt to get the policymakers to make legislation reflecting the objectives of the group (This Nation, 2008). Americans choose to join these interest groups because they are motivated by the group's objectives. They believe the group will protect their interest within the political realm. For an example, a Texas restaurant owner might join the local chamber of commerce in order to have her business' interest represented within the local …show more content…

The first one is lobbying. This the practice of talking with policymakers to persuade them to support a certain legislation. It also includes testifying before congressional committees for or against a proposed legislation (Schmidt, S., et al., 2011, p.151). The ratings game is where the group identify the legislation that consider most important to goals & then monitor how policymakers voted on it. The legislators then receive scores based on their votes, on a range from 0 to 100%. A 100 percent means that the policymaker voted with the group on every issue (Schmidt, S., et al., 2011, p.151). Campaign assistance is the form of group members are able to work for the political campaigns, including precinct workers to get out the vote. volunteers to put up posters, and pass out literature. staff the phone banks at the campaign headquarters (Schmidt, S., et al., 2011, p.152). They generate public pressure by producing advertisements in magazines and newspapers, mass mailings, and TV, and demonstrations. The Internet make communication even more effective. The intent of this activity is to convince policymakers that the public supports the group's position in a proposed legislation (Schmidt, S., et al., 2011, p.152). The interest group utilize the constituents of the policymakers to lobby for

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