CHAPTER 11 INTEREST GROUPS

 There has been a rise of interest groups recently  Today there are more than 20,000 of these private organizations in Washington and in state capitals  Interest groups represent bodies of people with shared interests and lobby legislators on their behalf  Americans tend to view them with skepticism because, most often, the language of influence is money INTEREST GROUPS

 An organization of people with shared policy goals entering the policy process at several points to try to achieve those goals  Your right to organize is protected by the First Amendment  Policy specialists INTEREST GROUP

 Interest groups  Pursue their agenda through the political process, whereas parties advance their agendas through elections  Interest groups specialize in one or two policy areas, whereas parties focus on only general policies in order to win a majority DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PARTIES AND INTEREST GROUPS

 Many people criticize interest groups for encouraging a policymaking system based on money  Interest groups donate heavily to campaigns through PACs to “buy” votes  The more money an interest group has, the more it is able to influence policy  Proponents argue that they are effective linkage institutions  Because they are carefully monitored and regulated, the methods of interest groups are much more honest than those employed by people and groups in the past ROLE AND REPUTATION

 Interest groups are important to democracy because they allow people to organize themselves in order to change policies  Because hundreds of interest groups must compete for influence, no one group will dominate others  Groups put up a fair fight, they do not engage in illegal activities to surpass other groups  Groups are equal in power because they have different resources at their disposal PLURALIST THEORY

 There may be hundreds of interest groups, but only a select few have any real power  The interests of only a handful of elites, usually business people, are almost always favored over other interests  The policy battles that smaller interests do win are usually minor  Power rests mostly with large multinational corporations  The system of elite control is maintained by a well-established structure of interlocking policy players ELITE THEORY

 Groups have too much political influence because they get what they want HYPERPLURALIST THEORY

Potential Group  Composed of all the people who might be group members because they share some common interest Actual Group  Composed of those in the potential group who choose to join POTENTIAL VS. ACTUAL GROUP

 Collective good – something of value that cannot be withheld from a potential group member  Members of the potential group share in the benefits that members of the actual group work to secure COLLECTIVE ACTION

 Rational response = sit back and let the other people do the work  This is known as the free-rider problem  Selective benefits – goods that a group can restrict to those who pay their yearly dues MORE ON COLLECTIVE ACTION

 Groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics  For example, pro-life groups SINGLE-ISSUE GROUP

 Individuals can only contribute $5000 to a PAC in any given election cycle’  Corporations and unions are barred from contributing directly from their treasuries/profits REGULAR PAC CAMPAIGN FINANCE RULES…

 Super PACs developed after the Citizens United case  These PACs are solely dedicated to independent expenditures  They can raise unlimited amounts of money from individuals, corporations, and unions  They CANNOT coordinate directly with candidates SUPER PAC

PACS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES  Provide a means for groups to participate in electioneering

 on committees that are important to the interest  very supportive of issues important to them  from a district or state where they had facilities  helping them with executive and regulatory agencies  in leadership positions that enabled them to influence issues that affect the PAC PACS CONTRIBUTE TO CANDIDATES WHO….

 A communication, by someone other than a citizen acting on his or her own behalf, directed to a governmental decision maker with the hope of influencing his or her decision  They are political persuaders who represent organized groups  The more helpful a lobbyist is, the more power he or she has with a politician LOBBYING

 They are an important source of information  They can help politicians with political strategy for getting legislation through  They can help formulate campaign strategy and get the group’s members behind a politician’s reelection campaign  They are a source of ideas and innovations FUNCTIONS OF LOBBYISTS

 Aiding candidates financially and getting group members out to support them  Interest groups endorse a candidate who supports their interests and work to get that candidate elected  Groups  Encourage people to vote for that candidate  Help finance the candidate’s campaign through PACs  Congressional candidates have become largely dependent on PAC money  Most PAC money goes to incumbents rather than challengers ELECTIONEERING

 Groups use lawsuits to change policies that have already gone through the legislative process LITIGATION

 Legal briefs submitted by a “friend of the court” for the purpose of raising additional points of view and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties  These briefs attempt to influence a court’s decision  Through these written depositions, a group states its collective position as well as how its own welfare will be affected by the outcome of the case AMICUS CURIAE BRIEFS

 Lawsuits permitting a small number of people to sue on behalf of all other people similarly situated  Flight attendants won a class action suit against the airline industry’s regulation that all stewardesses be unmarried CLASS ACTION SUIT

 Interest groups try to influence the public because they know that politicians’ careers’ depend on public opinion  Groups cultivate a positive image of themselves in the eyes of the public  Groups encourage public participation to advance the interests from the point of view of the constituency GROUPS AND PUBLIC OPINION

 Economic  Labor  Business  Environmental  Sierra Club  Equality  NAACP  NOW  Consumers and Public Interest TYPES OF INTEREST GROUPS

 Labor  Taft-Hartley Act 1947  Prohibited labor unions from making direct contributions  Union Shop  Requires all employees of a business to join the union within a short period and to remain in the union as a condition of employment  Right-to-work [South]  State law forbidding requirements that workers must join a union to hold jobs  Business  Tillman Act 1907  Prohibited corporations from making contributions directly ECONOMIC

 Favor wilderness protection, pollution control, energy alternatives  Oppose policies that damage the environment ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS

 Civil rights, women, social welfare  Concerns center around fair treatment in jobs, housing, and education EQUALITY INTERESTS

 Public interest lobbies are organizations that seek “a collective good, the achievement of which will not selectively and materially benefit the membership or activities of the organization”  Product safety  Fair and open government  Nader CONSUMER AND PUBLIC INTEREST LOBBIES