The Super Pac

According to Michael Stinnett who wrote an article about the negative consequences of super PACs on elections he says Super PACs “allowing wealthy donors to buy elections”(Stinnett). His fear is due to Super PACs having very lax campaigning rules and regulations it has the potential to let the wealthy few give all of their money to people who once in office support bills and law that will be beneficial for the donors. Michael Stinnett even went as far as saying “Super PACs are a pernicious influence on society and should be abolished”(Stinnett). Not only does he has this negative feeling about Super PACS, But he shares them with approximately two-thirds of americans who understand the new rules according to a new study done by the pew research center (pew

In recent elections on the congressional level as well as for President we see the growing influences of interest groups in the form of PAC’s and Super PAC’s to back candidates. Super PAC’s can spend an unrestricted amount money to support a certain problems or candidate but cannot donate directly to the campaigns. PAC’s work with campaigns directly reallocating donations to candidates and parties.

Limiting interest group is like cutting off the blood that flows through America’s vein. Interest groups plays a pivotal role in todays U.S society ranging from but not limited to; helping Congress and the administration to draft legislation and policy initiatives, provide information both to government and the public on a broad range of topical issues, and contribute significantly to political

While there is a limit to the amount an individual, group, or corporation can give directly to a political candidate, there is no limit to the amount of money one can give to a super PAC. These super PACs work closely with a candidate’s campaign and pay for many of the candidate’s expenses. Super PACs spend a lot of money on expensive television advertisements to endorse their candidate and degrade their candidate’s opponents. While candidates often have to disclose their direct campaign contributions, super PACS do not. Super PACs are able to keep the sources of most of their funds hidden from the public. Some Senators and Representatives have been working on passing legislation to remove the cap on individuals’ direct campaign contributions. This would allow candidates to campaign without super PACs, making the sources of campaign funding more clear (Price

That is one reason why the public has come to reject the idea of the Super PACs. It has the turned the political campaign into a shallow, reality television, mud-slinging type of contest from which the candidates can never return. The ads being run in the newspapers, television, and radio stations cost these candidates and Super PACs money that could have been used for better political means such as contributions to charitable organizations by the candidates or their support groups on their behalf. That sort of act would have had a greater political impact upon the voting public than an ad campaign explaining the ills of Newt Gingrich. Even more sickening, is the fact that most of the candidates will feign knowledge of participation in any negative campaign movements because of the independent nature of the Super PACs. The candidate can deny any involvement in the act all the while coordinating with his Super PAC under the radar of mass media. These negative campaigns leave the candidate free and clear of any involvement as all the Super PAC has to do is run the ad with a clear disclaimer absolving the candidate the ad supports of any wrong doing because the ad was not sanctioned by the candidate or political party.

Pressure group strategy and influence are “determined largely by factors such as size…financial resources, prestige position of the organization, quality of leadership and staff, and relations with the political parties…” (Turner, 1958, p. 64). It is these factors that make pressure groups, to some extent, incompatible with representative democracy as some groups are able to make their views heard ‘louder’ due to factors which can be difficult for them to change, such as the prestigious position of an interest group.

The majority wrote that the Freedom of the Press Clause in the 1st Amendment protects associations of individuals, not just individual speakers; therefore, corporations gain 1st amendment rights as an association of individuals (Roberts, 2009). This means that corporations have effectively the same 1st amendment rights guaranteed to individuals. In Buckley v. Valeo, it’s established that money is detrimental to disseminating speech. For that reason, limiting a corporation’s ability to spend money is deemed unconstitutional because it limits their ability to speak on political issues., The majority opinion also wrote that because the BCRA doesn’t distinguish between corporations and media,

In general, a lobbyist group is a sort of effective network system that consists from paid professionals and also volunteers, with efforts in persuasion the legislators to produce and support policies that the lobbyist groups interested. All American institutions can be represented by a lobbyist, such as Pharmaceuticals, insurance, air transport, health professionals, and others. To reach the goals of the interest group and lobbyist in persuasion in reforming policies, billions of dollars need to be spent by them. According to the Lobbying Disclosure Act, the money that paid for lobbying needs to be registered with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House. Health care lobbying is one of the big lobbyists in the United States,

FECA limited how much candidates could spend on media publicizing (Williams, 2010). The law also confined the amount of money a competitor could contribute to his own campaign (Williams, 2010). Federal Election Campaign Act also tightened disclosure laws, constricted donations from enterprises and unions, and set in motion the idea of political action committees also known as PACs (Williams, 2010). PACs are interest groups that raise money for a candidate or party that they favor in a election (Trautman, 2015). The Federal Election Campaign Act limited individuals in 2015-2016 federal election to donate only 2,700 dollars per election to candidate committees and 5,000 dollars per election to PACs (fec.org). It also limited candidate committees donors to only donate 2,000 dollars per election to candidate committees and 5,000 dollars to PACs per election (fec.org). In 1974, Congress passed revisions fortifying FECA (Williams, 2010). The federal court case of Buckley v. Valeo 1796 challenged the Act as disregarding the First Amendment (Williams, 2010). The Supreme Court ruled that expenditures were limiting free speech for a candidate and this it was in fact disregarding the First Amendment (Williams, 2010). Buckley v. Valeo was a lawsuit between Republican Senator James Buckley and Democratic Senator Eugene McCarthy against

The Democratic Party was formed in 1792. Its name was adopted in the 1830s during Jackson’s presidency. It is the “world’s oldest existing political party” (Democratic Party). The Northern and Southern Democrats had issues dealing with slavery, which caused them to split in 1860. According to the “Democratic Party”, the Southern Democrats wanted to protect “slavery in all the territories while many Northern Democrats resisted.” The party was also known as the "white man 's party" and demonized the Republican Party as being "Negro dominated," even though whites were in control” (Democratic Party).

If I had to specifically choose which political party had the most influence on my life and political views I would say it is the Republican Party. The Republican Party supports most of my current views on American issues in the United States. I think its safe to say that I am more Republican than Democrat. Some of the few specific views that I hold that are influenced by Republicans are; I am pro-life, I believe in limiting social welfare to unemployed Americans, I favor a continued military presence in unstable Middle Eastern regions, and I strongly oppose gun control.

In and of itself, the assembly of special interest groups is political participation, as citizens involved are actively attempting to interact with government. However, the population has since grown exponentially and the need for vast numbers of people to participate directly in protest movements has diminished since actions geared toward equality have been taken. Additionally, many people are not inclined to become government representatives or leaders in protest movements. Since political participation is a responsibility of the people, many of them handle this duty by voting to elect officials based on their beliefs and lending support to organizations that ally with their causes and values.

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 GOP and Republican Party establishment elites are no longer on the side of the true American. The true America is what our founding fathers had risked and gave up so much to establish with the Declaration of Independence and the signing of The Constitution. Unfortunately in this election cycle, the establishment has made it very clear that they are more concerned with their political party elitist ideals than being a representative of the American voter.

To overcome these great obstacles set by the polluter-industrial complex, the environmental justice movement must grow and adapt to the changes. If the environmental justice movement expands its constituency to include broader human rights campaigns, the movement will be able to strengthen its numbers. It will become much more difficult to argue against human rights platforms for it applies to every social class and race. These campaigns could also compromise less by showing increased activism through grassroots campaigning. Without extreme measures, the environmental justice movement could place more pressure through a united front, compromising to none. Another way to combat the polluter-industrial complex is by forcing politicians to make their financial statements more transparent to the public. The American people have the right to know if certain politicians are paid by individuals linked to the polluter-industrial complex. This information should be publically displayed for immediate and easy access, helping many differentiate between real and false information. Most importantly, the American people and consumers need to become more conscious of reliable sources, for not every source tells the truth. Mindful consumers that restrict the purchase of certain