Political Parties And Interest Groups

American Politics Today defined Interest groups as “organizations of people who share common political interests and aim to influence public policy by electioneering and lobbying. Lobbying involves convincing an elected official or bureaucrat to help enact a law, craft a regulation, or do something else that a group wants”. Thus, America being a nation that welcomes new ideas and ways of doing things, will probably surfer set-backs if it place limits on one of the most used gateways (interest groups ) of its citizens to the Government. For example, if tomorrow the federal government decides that for national security reasons all phone and internet communications must be recorded. Imagine the impact this will have on U.S Tech companies; people will drastically reduce the rate they use phones and internet; stocks of companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft etc. Will go down. And at the end of the day these Tech firms are denial the possibility of reaching the government through limitations on interest group.

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. Clive S. Thomas 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).

Chapter Seven Essay--Trace the development of political parties during Washington's administration and describe their basic philosophies.

Governmental power and Economic power have become concentrated to such a degree that this intense focus on “power over” is creating concentrated issues that directly threaten both equality and democracy. Thus, resulting in “power over” the people, rather than for the people. To support my claim of both powers becoming too threatening towards democracy and equality, the topics of re-election rates within congress, the role of special interest groups and super PACs regarding their own political influence, and the role of people power will be briefly examined as too how these three topics directly interfere, as well as threaten, both equality and democracy for the American people.

In this essay I will be discussing the affect interest groups have on relationship between Congress and Special Interest Groups. Interest groups are made of people that share a common interest and try to influence public policy to benefit themselves.There are several categories and subcategories of these groups that play a huge role in giving a voice to the citizens of this country. There are many weakness in our system giving these groups the ability to impact policy making to boosting a candidate for office. With the amount of power given to interest groups there comes a question as to whether or not their influence affects the legitimacy of the American legislative process.

Political parties are organized groups representing a comprehensive set of political views and objectives, who stand candidates for office, support them, and seek to bring their views to the public. They are distinct from interest groups in that interest groups represent a limited set of objectives and do not run for office; while they may promote views among the public, they also seek to directly influence lawmakers, which may be done through lobbying, money, and support during elections. Two activities of interest groups that are particularly significant, but troubling, is their ability to influence votes through gifts and political contributions that are often non-transparent, and the extent to which they can influence civic participation

After reading the 6th Chapter in Pal’s book, I believe that interest groups and advocacy politics are essential to ensure a healthy democracy. As stated by Pal on page 233, public interest groups “were motivated to challenge policy and the state through collective identity and shared values.” Through this we can see that it is essential to government to have public interests groups in order to meet the publics needs. Several examples of these types of groups/movements include the Civil, women’s, and lesbian/gay rights movements. Another example is that of climate change, an issue that has an impact on everyone, and through interest groups and advocacy politics, the public have the ability to present the issue to the government in an attempt

The last piece of evidence that supports interest groups’ influence in American politics is their popularity among the people. Considering their enormous amount of members having the support of an interest group is a must. Interest groups represents the people’s voice in politics. Interest groups support issues that are undeniable like the need for clean air. Everyone wants clean air, less pollution, and even clean bathrooms. Even though there are so many accual members interest groups has a lot of supporters that free ride off of them. Even though the term free riding is a problem this still doesn’t undermine the huge support these groups have. In the long run, interest groups help candidates keep up to date on issues the people really care

1 Do you feel it is beneficial that we have countless interest groups and that they have an enormous influence in our political system:

An interest group is simply a group of people whose goal is to influence the policies of government in a way that is helping their interests.

Parties are not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, they are vital to the function of the electoral system in the states. Parties organize opposition by recruiting and nominating candidates, act as opposition powerless, unify electorate, and provide government and people linkage.(Magleby 55)

Interest Groups and Political Parties were two main topics that were covered in chapter 7. Before reading this chapter I already had some understanding about interest groups, but I did not know the formal definition. The book describes interest groups as associations of people who hold common views and who work together to influence what government does. Those that are involve interest groups want to be in a position, benefit, or advantage. Which allows for an opportunity to protect or to promote their interests.

Interest groups are organizations that work to influence programs and policies within the government (Champagne and Harpham 163). One of the ways that they achieve this is through bundling. Bundling is the practice of individuals coming together and combining their funds with those of an interest group (Champagne and Harpham 165).The combining of funds allows for more opportunities such as being able to get more information on policies and allows for the interest group to build up relations which helps them to increase their influence in politics. Having this kind of continuity and funds allows for more success in an interest groups endeavors (Champagne and Harpham 165).

Elmer Eric Schattschneider said (1995) “political parties created democracy, and . . . democracy is unthinkable save in terms of parties”(pg.3). A political party is a group of voters organized to support certain public policies(Dictionary.com). The aim of a political party is to elect officials who will try to carry out the party 's policies. The United States political parties are what many would claim to be the center of the nation 's political system, and among the many that believe that would be our founding fathers whom started the United States political parties.

In the United States, the two major political parties are comprised of groups. These groups range in size and have monumental effects on parties’ success, depending on how large, wealthy, influential, and fervent the groups are. Some of the most powerful political groups in the United States are Catholics, labor union members, women, and social conservatives. The endorsement of these particular groups and others is what leads their respective parties to political victory.