Chapter 9
3/16/12
I.
Mission/ Role
A.
Educate on the issues
B.
Can become political
C.
Advice
D.
Sharing of ideas
E.
Influence the political
process to get the government to adopt their ideas
F.
Lobbying, raising money
G.
Not all driven on politics;
it’s a way of educating people on what’s going on
H.
The most important role
interest groups play is providing information to members of Congress
1.
Oftentimes, that information
ends up in bills that are passed
II.
Why does the US have so many
interest groups?
A.
Parties here are weak and we
have fewer parties, so interest groups fill the role. In Europe, the parties are strong and
interest groups work through the parties
B.
There are a lot of divisions
in our society; we live in a very diverse nation, so views vary and different
types of people with common beliefs form different groups
C.
There are so many different
ways of accessing our government (separation of powers and federalism) allows
people to feel like they can have an impact and form interest groups
III.
Birth of Interest Groups- What
leads to the creation of interest groups?
A.
War
1.
Groups form to represent
veterans from war
2.
Veterans get benefits
B.
Economy
1.
Crises
2.
Economic changes
a)
After New Deal, organizations
formed to fight what FDR did
b)
New jobs form unions, which
are interest groups (during the industrial revolution, factory jobs were
created and these people formed unions to ensure their rights)
c)
Farming groups
d)
Trade organizations that
resulted from the industrialization and overseas trade
C.
Real dramatic growth of
interest groups was in the 1960s
1.
Great Society
a)
Groups were created to
protect government benefits
2.
Culture Wars
a)
Civil rights- black
organizations
b)
Feminist organizations
c)
Birth of environmental
movement
d)
Gay rights groups
3.
Vietnam war- veterans groups
4.
More liberal people and
divide in values à groups formed around values issues
D.
A great leader who can
motivate people and make a cause appealing can lead to the birth of an interest
group
3/19/12
IV.
Types of Interest Groups
A.
Institutional Interest Groups
1.
Representing organizations
(not individual people)
2.
Example: Chamber of Commerce
represents the interests of businesses around the country
3.
They are very big because
they protect powerful corporations
B.
Membership Interest Groups
1.
Represent individual people
2.
We tend to join religious and
political membership groups the most
3.
Why do we join organizations?
a)
Political Efficacy- we take
part in these organizations to produce a positive result and get good things
done
b)
Material- you get direct benefits
by joining (discounts, plans, etc.)
c)
Solidary- to be with people
who share common interests
d)
Purposive- specific purpose/
goal that you want to accomplish
C.
Ideological Interest Groups
1.
Unified set of goals that you
want to achieve
D.
Public Interest Groups
1.
Benefit nonmembers
2.
Many were set up by Ralph
Nader
a)
Nader got his start fighting
for seat belts in cars. He went before
Congress testifying for seat belts, sued GM, got a lot of money, and set up
groups to help people (mainly to protect consumer rights)
3/20/12
V.
Regulating Interest Groups
A.
Many people think that
powerful corporation lobbyists meet with Congressmen and dictate what they do,
and therefore strongly influence government
B.
First regulation- 1946
1.
This law was a failure
2.
It was too vague and didn’t
clearly define a lobbyist
3.
No agency to enforce it
C.
1995
1.
Gave a broader definition of
lobbying- more people were considered lobbyists, so they could be regulated
2.
Paperwork- lobbyists have to
give reports to the government about who you’re working for and who you are
lobbying
3.
Regulations are different for
grassroots organizations (coming from the people- the rules are more flexible
4.
95’ was more effective in
regulating lobbying than 46’
VI.
Revolving Door
A.
Refers to people working in
government (mostly members of Congress) who leave and work for a lobbying firm,
and sometimes go back into government in the executive branch
B.
People fear that once someone
goes from the private sector back into government, he/she will act to benefit
the private corporation he/she worked for, which is corrupt and should be
limited
3/21/12
VII.
PACs
A.
PACs try to get candidates
elected by raising money and running ads
B.
The populous view PACs as
bad, corrupting government, buying votes, and having too much influence
C.
Most scholars say that PACs
are not that bad and do not have as much influence and power as we think
1.
PACs educate people. It is important for the people to be informed
2.
Individuals and political
parties donate 3/5 of the money going to candidates, so PACs aren’t really
dominating the system
3.
All the money given is
tracked and regulate. So now matter how
much money is given, at least we know who is giving, how much, and where it’s
going
4.
The general trend is that
PACs give to incumbents, but individuals also give to incumbents, and
incumbents will most likely win anyway
5.
PACs also support strong
challengers, and give money to both people in an election (which is bad)
6.
But in the end, PACs don’t
buy votes because people still go out and vote, and politicians tend to listen
to their party and constituents more before they listen to PACs
7.
The main problem is money in
politics, not only PACs
D.
Checking PACs
1.
Media
2.
Watchdog groups
3.
PACs have influence in our
society, but there are still many programs in our society that do not have PACs
defending them yet they still exist because people vote for them
4.
Political parties check PACs
VIII.
Thank you <3
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