Lobbying in Government

In a pluralist democracy like in the United States, interest groups have played a major role throughout the history through highly organized factions and are aimed at different levels of government. Lobbying is one of the tactics of the interest groups to aid their agenda through implementing new laws and regulations. "If you want to have your face in the light, you should have your back in the dark". Similarly, the influences of the interests groups and lobbyists have good and bad effects on the people and the society.

According to Milstead, “success in the legislative arena is much like a three-legged stool, with each leg essential to the sturdiness of the stool as a whole” (Milstead, 2013, p. 53). Professional lobbyist, grassroots lobbyist, and money make up the legs of the stool. Effective influencing and persuasion would determine the success of this proposed policy. The three legs of lobbying can be used with obesity advocacy. “Building trusting relationships, demonstrating interest and concern for the public good, and providing information on issues important to the nursing profession are all things that can be done through regular participation in all aspects of the legislative process” (Milstead, 2013, p. 55).

The purpose of lobbying is to communicate to public officials the special interests of specific groups.

Interest groups have a lot of influence over decision that the government makes and has made. These groups, when formed right, are highly organized and have a definite agenda they are trying to push that is important to them. Interest groups will lobby in congress as well as other levels of government to get new laws and regulations passed.

Moreover, the Schoolhouse Rock presentation identified the major committees that play a vast role within legislation, but furthermore failed to acknowledge the significant influence of interest groups, lobbyist, and campaign contributors. Interest groups are pertinent to the legislation process because of their vast influence. While interest groups strive to “influence public policy” to benefit its members, it accomplishes this task by using inside strategies that “pursue a narrow policy of change and directly influence legislation” and through its relationship within the iron triangle that works to “seal off” external influencers that are irrelevant to the groups view towards public policy; thus leaving a “closed

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) generally enters into legal disputes related to Bill of Rights issues.

Lobbying (also lobby) is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in a government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by many types of people, associations and organized groups, including individuals in the private sector, corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or advocacy groups (interest groups). Lobbyists may be among a legislator's constituencies, meaning a voter or block of voters within his or her electoral district, or not; they may engage in lobbying as a business, or not. Basically when you’re giving an opinion from someone else it’s not something that’s coming from your mouth it’s not how you feel someone is giving you what to say.

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

the first step in contacting an interest group. First, interest groups may be the target of efforts to enlist them as supporters of a particular policy position. A member of Congress or an agency head may feel that a policy he is pushing is not receiving the backing it should from the private sector. He may try to persuade representatives of interest groups to become more active on behalf of the cause. Second, interest groups are valuable sources of political intelligence. They can provide information concerning the lobbying activities of all other interest groups, pros and cons, on the issue at hand. They can also act as eyes and ears for their friends in government. Third, people in government may come to interest groups for the purpose of obtaining substantive data with regard to an issue. Congressional and agency staffs rarely have time to gather all the information they need on their own. Interest groups can be useful in

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.)

An interest group also known as a special interest group or a lobby is an organized group of individuals, organizations, or businesses who share a goal. The interest group forms an alliance in support of their cause to influence public policy and government officials in the group 's favor. The goal of the group could be focused on small group, such as the Japan Eraser Manufacturer 's Association; or the goal could be focused on a large public group, such as family and friends of public school-aged children in the United States. "The most important lobbying forces in any society are the various entities of government: national, regional, and local government agencies and institutions such as the military" (Thomas).???????????

interest groups are activity involved in the legislature process (on the national level) seeking to

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

A major portion of lobbying for a cause is lobbying Congress. The lobbying of Congress needs to be targeted to specific committees and staffers within the committees in order for it to be the most effective. The committee that would best be the targets of my lobbying group would be the judiciary committee, specifically the subcommittees of the Constitution and Civil Justice and Immigration and Border Security. These would be ideal because they handle civil rights issues such as human trafficking and also handle matters regarding refugees, which is what many human trafficking victims are classified as. These subcommittees would also have jurisdiction for many additional reasons.

Every essay assignment changed my perspective on something or strengthened the knowledge I already had but,with the Argumentative Essay I felt more engaged than ever with my assignment.The ability to choose my topic already made me feel more in control, but i still had to critically think.When I was determining what topic I felt more inclined to write about I was confused on which to choose not because of lack of options but because my dilemma was that I had too much. In order to truly pick I not only decided on what I was very passionate about, but also on a topic that I knew was uncommon and could educate more than reiterate .I thought of Lobbying which I once wrote a speech about and had a clear interest in. I had a lot of conversations with friends and family about lobbying and came to the realization that it was not only important to me, but to everyone I knew whether they knew about it or not it had a significant importance in their life.The process was interesting because I didn’t lack information, but I had a lot since it was something that I had read upon for a long time so my struggle became the organization. I also had to make it clear and concise because I found it was easy to become stray from your main thesis when you have a lot of information on the general topic. My views didn’t necessarily change yet  the ideas and notions I had on Lobbying were strengthened by the research I got and how I tried to deliver my argument.