Special interest groups are organizations that try to protect the values, and rights of a specific demographic, minority, or political party. The NARAL or National Abortion Rights Action League is one such organization. They have been in existence since 1969, and are the oldest abortion rights group in the United States.
NARAL realized early on that one of the most fundamental and liberating rights a woman can have is to choose how many, if any, children they want to have. There are several organizations that have just recently begun to promote a woman 's right to choose, in third world countries. NARAL advocates for the rights of women, but more importantly the right to choose. It is made up of normal, average citizens, who on a volunteer
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One is by using specific, convincing, rhetoric, often referred to as “active rhetoric”. For example, on their website, they say: “We need you to take action on your pro-choice beliefs. Every day, anti-choice activists work to take away our right to choose. Pro-choice Americans can never stop standing up for access to abortion, birth control, and sex education. Your action will make a difference for women and families.” This type of rhetoric doesn’t prevent collective action problems, but it does try to combat them. They also give lists of ways you can get involved, providing links to websites that help people get active in protesting abortion clinic violence, defunding, and harassment, among others. Putting the information at people’s fingertips is an incredibly effective way of discouraging collective action problems. People are inherently lazy and self-interested, so going to the trouble to source websites, and search for associated causes and organizations would likely be a huge factor in them saying “oh well, so many other people are helping, I don 't really need to.” Further, they have a donation page that is easily accessible, and prominent on their home …show more content…
The definition of factions according to Madison is: “a number of citizens, whether a majority or minority, who were united and activated "by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community." (conlaw.org) This is arguable and depends largely on the mission, and interests of the individual group. There probably are interest groups that are adverse to the rights of other citizens, however, I don’t believe most of them intend to be. And largely, special interest groups are interested mainly in promoting equality, and the betterment of the lives of those in the minority. The case could be made that special interest groups are adverse to demographics, however, this idea is probably supported by the people who feel threatened by the promotion of equality for the less advantaged. The theory of distributive justice states that diverging from strict equality is acceptable so long as the inequalities in question would make the least advantaged in society materially better off than they would be under strict equality. This I believe is the purpose and goal of most special interest
But what are these said groups and where do they come from? These multiple competing groups are only possible because we live democratic society where citizens have the right to assemble, and to speak freely in opposition to the elite. These rights are solidified in the First Amendment of the constitution and cannot be taken away, even by the elite. Thus, the constitution contributes to a pluralistic system by keeping the powerful in check so that they can never hold all of the power.
Next, Madison explains the reasons why unequal distribution of property leads to factions. Under the liberal society, people can freely practice their own faculties and experiment of life. Because people make decisions based on their reasoning and self-interest, they will focus on what is beneficial to them. When a group of people come together because they have the same interest, it becomes a faction. According to Madison’s writing “By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion or of interest… (Page 63)” He believes the unequal distribution of property will divide people into different group and eventually lead citizens to factions. Moreover, because faction is made by people who hold sim...
In our contemporary times the founding fathers would not see a problem with faction, because now we have a very strong central government. Factions today can be consider any type of groups that has an objective such as AARP, NAACP, Occupy wall St. and many others. Over the years factions have become larger and more powe...
Abortion has been a subject of controversy over the past century. Eventually the decision was settled in favor of pro-choice, in the Supreme Court case Roe versus Wade. At 10:00 a.m. on January 22,1973, the United States Supreme Court announced that the Texas abortion law was unconstitutional. The Court also declared the Georgia abortion law unacceptable. The vote was seven to two, with Burger, Blackmun, Powell, Stewart, Brennan, Douglas, and Marshall in the majority. Rehnquist and White opposed the decision. Abortion throughout the nation had been declared legal. Abortion laws in thirty-one states, including Texas, were overturned. Fifteen states, including Georgia, would have to rewrite their more liberal laws. Three other states, Hawaii, Washington, and Alaska-where rigid abortion laws had been repealed-had residency requirements or other limits that would have to be eliminated. Only the New York law, which allowed abortion without restrictions, was unaffected by the decision (Gold69).
Pro-life vs. pro-choice can often be a complicated and confusing one. Those who are against abortion often believe life begins at conception and base their opinion on Biblical views. Those that are advocates of pro-choice believe it is a women’s right to end a pregnancy regardless of the woman‘s reasons. In the United States, the pro-choice view is perceived as pro-abortion, and the pro-life position is recognized as anti-abortion. Should women have the right to choose to have an abortion in today’s society?
Do they play an important role in our democracy since they claim that they represent many people? There has been a continuing debate over the proper role of interest groups in the United States democracy. Interest groups are organized group of individuals who share the same ideas and their main goal is to influence media, lawmakers, and people with their ideas. On one hand, interest groups members and their leaders assert that they offer crucial information and services to the lawmakers and that lawmakers aren’t experts regarding every bill proposed
NOW currently have 500,000 active members and 550 chapters throughout the 50 states and District of Columbia. As NOW consist a large sum of members, with goals that would achieve common good and broad range of interest, it would be categorized as a public interest group; NOW is also a non-profit 501(c) (3) charitable organization that does not get funding from the federal government, but operates through the funding of the membership dues and donations from private parties. NOW is a non-partisan organization that does not have any affiliation with political parties, however candidates of any political parties are allow accepting endorsements from the Political Action committee (PAC) of NOW. NOW focus on the issues of women right on secure abortion, birth control and reproductive rights; protecting women from violence. However, NOW does not just seek the rights and equality for the women, but also looking after the gay and lesbian.
In today’s politics, interest groups play a large role in the government system. An interest Group is defined as 'an organized body of individuals who try to influence public policy.' This system is designed so that interest groups would be an instrument of public influence on politics to create changes, but would not threaten the government much. These organizations are either made up of people who represent a different organization or people who represent themselves. Interest groups represent the citizens’ interests and views, while expressing their own needs as well. They are the link between people and politics, giving a way for the public to voice their opinions. Members of interest groups use different tactics to basically impose their wants or needs onto the government by lobbying, educating, and campaigning.
It shows that women should come together and fight for their rights. This relates to the article “What is Reproductive Justice” by Price, who states that women of color need to be encouraged to come together and be involved in the political movement for reproductive freedom. Therefore, the main goal of the reproductive justice movement is the right to have an abortion, the right to have children, and the right to parent these children. Reproductive Justice is a positive approach that links sexuality, health, and human rights to social justice movements by placing abortion and reproductive health issues in the larger context of the well-being and health of
Citizens can join any interests group that center their goals and concern; no matter how specific they may be. For example, the National Women Organization, which fight for equal rights for women. There are different types of interest groups such as business, labor and public interest groups (Hays, 2001). Each interest group’s goals are different, but have the same general idea. Their goal is to influence the public policy for their interest group. Direct strategies of a interest group are lobbying, evaluating government officials, building connections, and offering campaign assistance. Indirect strategies of a interest group would be precipitating public pressure, using elector as lobbyists, and public protest demonstrations. For example, Angelina Jolie lobby for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(Berry&Wilcox,
Citizens of the United States are traditionally given unlimited freedom of speech, press, and assembly. These American privileges allow interest groups to express their perspectives by using the media and other sources that are accessible to the public. In definition, an interest group is a group of individuals who organize to influence the government’s programs and policies. The main goal of these groups is to have the government both listen and respond to their interests (Shin 243). Historically interest groups have and continue to play a crucial role in American politics; especially since it is an effective form for citizens to interfere with government decision making. Two current interest groups in the United States are the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and the National Council of La Raza. These particular interest groups demonstrate how interest groups directly and indirectly influence public opinion and the political process.
The pluralistic scholar David Truman notes that “the proliferation of political interest groups [is] a natural and largely benign consequence of economic development” (Kernell 2000, 429). That is, as American economic development increases, in the form of industry, trade, and technology, factions are produced in order to protect special interests. Factions have a large platform on which to find support from various political parties, committees, subcommittees, and the courts, as well as federal, state, and local governments (Kernell 2000, 429).
There are two extensive groups who have controversial ideas: pro-life and pro-choice. Individuals who are pro-life are anti abortion and do
Interest groups are groups that are protected under the 1st amendment giving people the opportunity to get together peaceably and petition or express their different opinions to the government or group representatives. There are more than one hundred thousand interest groups. Interest groups are created for many different reasons but often they are the result of a major controversial event that happens in society. When a major social movement happens like the “Black Lives Matter” movement caused by police brutality towards African American individuals, it sparks groups of people who get together to make changes in our political, economic, or social systems. These groups become Interest Groups because they are involved in making a change to
Funding for abortion is an issue, there is a group known as the Kentucky Health Justice Network (KHJN.) KHJN is a group made up of grassroots educators, Board of Directors, community activists, and volunteers dedicated to expressing numerous areas of reproductive justice. This Kentucky Support Network supports abortion seeking clients with any financial, transportation, interpretation, or other abortion related issues they may have. This group is a member of a larger group known as the national Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF.) The NNAF works to ensure that people can access the legal abortions they are