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Political Interest Groups Research Paper

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Political interest groups have had a profound influence over important governmental decisions throughout the history of the United States. James Madison believed that everyone is self-interested; therefore, interest groups are an assemblage of individuals who share the same self-interest acting together to obtain goals beyond individual reach in complex societies. These interest groups are highly organized factions that have a certain agenda that is important to them. In order to ensure their agenda is protected, these groups will often lobby various levels of government, have new laws or regulations instituted that will aid their agenda, or argue against possible laws, codes, or regulations that might harm their interests of agendas. …show more content…

With many different competing interest groups, the way to achieve democratic success is to find a middle ground, a compromise. Groups for the equality of gay marriage, such as the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), and Basic Rights Oregon, had to compromise with the groups opposing it, such as the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) and the Massachusetts Catholic Coalition (MCC), because otherwise the government would achieve nothing. Before the Massachusetts decision, the establishment of legal civil unions was that compromise. These unions gave all the rights and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex couples without blemishing the establishment of marriage, but these unions were not inherently equal. Civil unions only gives equal rights at state level and exempts someone from federal benefits, such as inheriting social security after your spouse dies. Massachusetts was the first to agree that civil unions were unacceptable because they were unequal in name, but only because multiple interest groups were bonded together. With competing interest groups, achieving the equality of the word marriage took the collaboration of similar-minded interest groups to overcome the competing views because many groups can achieve better success together than one can on its own. The Goodridge decision propelled the debate over legalizing same-sex marriage into the national spotlight, compelled various interest groups across

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