INTEREST GROUPS
One of the most influential pieces of American politics are Interest Groups. Interest groups are organized groups who attempt to persuade government through lobbying. Interest groups try to shape policies by mobilizing voters and putting pressure on elected officials (primarily congress). Interest groups do this through gathering information (often times through misguided polling) and massive campaigns contributions. I like to look at interest groups as minority groups or special interest groups.
Interest groups often times give a voice to an underrepresented population of America but also are often a source of controversy as their methods to influence policymakers are often questionable. Below I've listed some advantages to Interest Groups.
ADVANTAGES
Interest groups often times give a voice to an underrepresented population of America but also are often a source of controversy as their methods to influence policymakers are often questionable. Below I've listed some advantages to Interest Groups.
ADVANTAGES
- Promoting Democracy: Interest groups allow for all groups of people to have some sort of representation in the political field. Especially those based on religion, gender, race, etc.
- Numbers: Lobbying groups have the ability to bring
DISADVANTAGES
- Promote criminal activities: Interest groups use a lot of money in the process of lobbying for travel, food, etc. This funding usually comes from donations and contributions from wealthy influencers. But with this funding, some groups proceed in criminal acts to persuade policymakers, this includes but is not exclusive to: bribery, corruption, theft, and fraud.
For more info on Lobbyist regulation, check out the official website for the National Conference of State Legislatures.
An example of an interest group is the American Civil Liberties Union or the ACLU. The ACLU is a non-profit organization consisting of more than 1 million members whose mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States"[1]. The ideological perspective of the ACLU is libertarian. Libertarianism is a political philosophy that encompasses liberty as a core principle. This includes "political freedom and autonomy, emphasizing freedom of choice, voluntary association, and individual judgment." These beliefs are expressed in ACLU's "THREE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE ACLU" article. *see below*
Looking above you can see that the purpose of this article is to establish their beliefs as being in general want for the protection of everyone's freedoms; "Our job is to conserve America's original civic values". They highly emphasize that they're not "anti-anything" and their only mission is to "fight [attempts] to take away or limit your civil liberties." A rhetorical device they use is framing around the issue of inclusion. To further emphasize they're inclusive ideology, they're sure to mention that they support all people, this is highlighted in the third bullet point when they say, every person, "Rich or poor, straight or gay, black or white or brown, urban or rural, pious or atheist...should have some basic rights". This stresses just how important the idea of inclusion is to them as libertarians wanting
one thing strong here is the advantages and disadvantages of interest groups. one way you could make it even stronger is adding 1 or 2 more disadvantages to the list for a more persuasive argument.
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