Interest Groups

I. Introduction: Interest Group – an organization of people who enter the political process to try to achieve their shared goals.

James Madison believed that the latent cause of factions were rooted in the nature of man. We as social creatures unite with like- minded people. Because interest groups are to politics what oxygen is to fire, the activities of interest groups are protected under the U.S. Constitution by the First Amendment.

1. Parties influence government primarily through the election process (running candidates for office). Interest groups do not run candidates. Differences between Parties & Interest Groups;

2. Parties generate and support a broad spectrum of policies; interest groups support one or a few related policies.

Unlike Great Britain, interest groups in the United States are common because: 1.Society is more diverse. 2.Weakness of political parties. 3.Government is more fragmented, making political authority more dispersed. 4.Interest groups can gain access to government more easily.

Interest groups are created more rapidly in some periods than in others. This suggest that they do not arise inevitably out a natural social processes.

For example: 1.The formation of antislavery organizations was an the result of talented leadership. 2.The emergence of large unions were in response to broad economic developments. 3.The launching of the Chamber of Commerce resulted from government policies. 4.The growth of public-interest lobbies occurred as a result of the enlargement of government responsibilities. Representation, in Washington, by these groups have skyrocketed since the 1970s.

II. Types of Interest Groups: 1.Institutional interest groups; groups that work on behalf of a client by lobbying for laws to protect the client from foreign competition; or workers from employers. - AFL-CIO - U.S. Wine Industry - U.S. Tobacco Industry

2. Ideological interest groups; groups that attract people by appealing to a coherent, often controversial, set of principles. - National Rifle Association (NRA)

3. Public research interest groups (PIRGs); organizations dedicated to working on and studying local consumer/political issues. If the group’s achieves its goals, non-members as well as members will benefit. The policies of public- interest organizations are predominately shaped by the elites who dominate them (Ralph Nader).

One important activity of public-interest organizations is to use law firms to bring suits on behalf of persons harmed by some public or private policy. They chief weapon is to file “amicus curiae” (friend of the court) briefs on behalf of a plaintiff.

Liberal PIRG Law Firms: 1.American Civil Liberty Union 2.NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund 3.Women’s Legal Defense Fund 4.Asian American Legal Defense Fund 5.Mexican American Legal Defense Fund

Conservative PIRG Law Firms: 1.Atlantic Legal Foundation 2.Criminal Justice Legal Foundation 3.Landmark Legal Foundation 4.The Center for Individual Rights

III. Incentives to Join: People join interest groups because there is something that they cannot get without joining. 1.Solidarity incentives; a sense of pleasure, status, or companionship that arises out of meeting together. -Parent Teacher Association (PTA) -League of Women Voters

2. Material incentives; money, or things and services readily valued in monetary terms. -Farm Organizations (Illinois Farm Bureau) offer their members cooperatives to market their products. -American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) offer their members low-cost life insurance. -Women’s Equity Action League (WEAL) offer their members free tax preparation. -National Association of Science Teachers offer their members teaching techniques.

3. Purposive incentives; the appeal of the organization’s stated goals to recruit members. To be effective, purposive membership organizations have to keep their issues in the spotlight. -The National Organization of Women (NOW)

The people who are most likely to join interest groups are people with better-than-average incomes. Typically, members are college-educated professionals who earn more than $40k annually. It may seem that most interest groups have a upper-class bias. But not when it comes to the positions the groups will take.

IV. Funding: All interest groups have some trouble raising money. To raise more money than members supply in dues, lobbying organizations have turned to three sources. 1.Foundational Grants; millions have been donated to liberal interest groups through the Ford Foundation. 2.Federal Government Grants 3.Direct-mail solicitation; computerized direct-mail solicitation is unique to modern interest groups.

V. Activities of Interest Groups: Size and wealth are no longer a measure of an interest group’s influence. Probably the best measure of an interest groups influence is its organizational skills. Interest groups and their lobbyist employ several tactics to gain political support. 1.Information; of all the tactics used by lobbies for interest groups the most important is supplying creditable information.

Information is an important commodity to interest groups and legislators; because, legislators cannot be experts on all issues, so they rely on lobbyist for information.

The most important asset a Washington lobbyist has is his/her creditability. Lobbyists restrain themselves from misrepresenting facts or misleading legislators due to the fear of losing legislator's trust. You tell one lie, and you are dead as a lobbyist. No one will return your calls.

2. Political cues; in addition to seeking technical information from lobbyists, public officials often look to them for political cues on particular issues. One type of political cue a legislator might consider before taking a position on an issue would be whether lobbies with similar ideology are united on the issue. Another cue used by lobbyists to convince undecided legislators that public opinion on an issue is with them is to get newspapers to run editorials in support of the issue. Lobbyists will encourage local citizens to send telegrams or letters. Lobbyists will also commission public opinion polls.

3. Rating; the primary purpose of legislative ratings is to influence the behavior of legislators. A highly effective rating system used by Environmental Action, Inc., since 1970 is called the Dirty Dozen. It consist of the most anti-evironment legislators in the House.

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