Interest Groups

In a country as diverse as the United States with the political freedoms that we as citizens have, there are many issues or ideas that we as individual would like to be fixed or put in place. When people realize that they do have the same ideas as one other it is natural to form groups in order to create a plan in order to see the vision come to reality. However special interests groups have been seen as a threat to the idea of democracy ever since the conception of the country.
James Madison in Federalist 10 saw that the United States would have the tendency to go in this direction. He called what we know as interests groups “factions” and that “ whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interest of the community”. By noticing this trend in people, Madison stated in Federalist 10 that having these groups in government in a pure democracy couldn’t work because of the confusion, and instability it would cause in government. Having too many people would cause “men of factious tempers of local prejudices, or sinister designs, may by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interest of the people.”(Woll Federalist 10 P.177)
Madison’s solution to this issue since he knew that factions in the United States would never be able to be removed completely from the democratic government was to make sure the United States was a republic. Having people in represent the country Madison argued would “ refine and enlarge public views.”(Woll Federalist 10 P.177) and have the people “ whose wisdom may be best discern the true interest in the country”. Madison also acknowledges the potential of corrupt people, but in a republic system it would be really hard for them to extend their power to other states. The Republican form of government allows there to be a checks and balance on these factions.
While it is true that the republic way keeps there from being any instability, and confusion the system only allows the power of government to be in the hands of a few people. Madison wanted groups to share their ideas and to make policies, but did not want them to be too powerful, “ because of natural conflict of interest and government acting as a synthesizer.”
Many interests groups have influence policymaking without becoming too powerful. Although he did not support a candidate, Martin Luther King Jr. by definition was a leader of an interest group because of he was looking for policy to change. Likewise with the all of the women who were involved with universal suffrage, they all lobbied to try to get their ability to vote. Both causes are not the traditional form of interest group in the way that they are not looking for economic advantages and gains.
However even with Madison’s idea of forming a republic so that the interest groups would not get more powerful, did not exactly turn out the way he wanted it to. Jeffery Berry sates “ Those with large resources have always been better represented by interest groups, and the least wealthy have suffered because of their failure to organized (Woll Madison’s Dilemma p.222) While it can be argued that it is the fault of the smaller groups of people that they have not organized well enough, it is still not fair to them that they do not have the representation by the interest groups.
No matter the good this that interest groups have done, their influences in government can really affect the way policy is made. Interest groups have two things that are vital to the political process.
The first thing in the world of politics today, especially in congress reelection is a vital thing in order for a person to maintain the power they hold. Interests groups come into play a lot during election time, because people gravitate towards people who share the same interests in their community. This is “ because interest groups have recourses — mailing list, newsletters, conventions, and volunteers — that can help political parties reach out to group members and other voters” (Woll Interest Groups and the American Political System p 243). Especially since the United States has one of the lowest voter turnouts in all of the democracy it is very crucial for the candidate to be herd about.
An example that was used was the Christian Coalition, whom uses their recourses to help promote the Republican Party because of that stance that they have on issues of the collation have. Likewise goes for the Democratic Party, who usually gets support from Labor Unions especially in times of economic decline. Having these interests groups helps parties “ refine their image and their messages” (Woll Interest Groups and the American Political System P.243) to the American people.
Back to the martin Luther King and Universal suffrage example, the interest groups influence the platform of the candidates running at the time as well. If the candidate had taken a stance that was not to the liking of his constituents then he can risk the chance of getting reelected by the people. So in many cases although interest groups can help refine the candidate’s image and message, if they are not popular with the people, the candidates usually go with the flow of the people.
Secondly, money that is collected by the interest groups helps parties, and candidates run their campaign. Since here in America, party does not base the voting, but is “ candidate centered” interest groups help insure that there is money to promote their candidate win the election. Money helped raised by the interests is very important because candidates need to make sure that they reach every possible voter who has the same ideals as them. If the candidate is very unsure or moderate on the themes of these campaigns, special interests groups help choose out the themes that the candidate will run on. For example earlier in his campaign John McCain was on the fence about the topic of abortion, but somewhere along the lines the Christian Collation influence him to be against it in a way that allows him to still seem moderate.
Money is such an importance in the world of politics that there is Political Action Committee (PCA) which raise money from members of a special group in order to make donations that are over $1,000. While many candidates get up to 3/5 of their money, many times candidates usually reject money depending of the circumstances. “ If party loyalty can have a stronger pull than PAC contribution, then surely the view’s of the congressman’s constituents can also take a precedence over those political action committees.” ( The Misplaced Obsession with PACs p.249) Money in politics is not always guaranteed that a Politian is going to accept the terms the PAC wants them to follow, but it can also mean that politicians can potentially be very rash in their decisions.
As long as we have the freedoms that we do have in the United States, there will always be interest groups. It is a system that has work in the passed, but like any other system comes with some disclaimers that have to be monitored carefully to insure that nothing gets out of hand.



—Angelo
( ps. dr.berry i need to talk to u. )