Interest Groups In American Politics

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The United States of America is a country that seems to be controlled by a vast amount of interest groups that are all competing for politicians to promote their interests. Therefore, this brings the question of whether or not the United States is a country run under the hands of rich, biased businessmen or corporate hands, or if it is a political design for politicians to have their campaigns paid for them, without having to do any work. This is also seen as interest groups that focus more on environmental or social issues uses opposition tactics to try to get governments to follow their interests but are essentially content I things do not worsen. Therefore, interest groups are arguably not integral to the functionality of the American political …show more content…

Therefore, Interest groups are arguably an integral part of American politics because they help set agendas and persuade politicians to react the way they want. An interesting fact about interest groups is that they articulate or represent ideas of what the people ‘want’ the government to do, even if interest groups are made from secular groups of individuals that represent specific causes. Furthermore, there are an enormous number of interest groups in the United States, and millions of Americans are members of one or more, at least to the extent of paying dues or attending an occasional meeting. This means interest groups can go to governments and claim that these people represent the views they stand for. When in reality, a large portion of these individuals join these factions to get special benefits or discounts. This begs the question on whether interest groups are actually an integral part of American politics because if an interest group is forcing legislators to draft legislation or encourage political parties to shape their platforms to represent the groups values while a large portion of the group does …show more content…

They change their tune depending on what state they are located in. Since this creates the understanding that interest group values are not universal, the credentials of these groups must be investigated so see where the skews of interest are being misrepresented or that people have to learn whether certain kinds of interest are more likely to be represented than others . This is also where upper-class bias becomes a factor because if you have the money and power to force your opinion on others the group will likely represent you more frivolously. This understanding creates the knowledge that interest groups are out to make sure their specific policy matters, or group values do not shift. Essentially, interest groups do not want to pass legislation to change or make a different, they are there to make sure no laws are passed that could be jeopardizing to their cause. As well, since it has already been established that interest groups, even though they might have the same name, change their values depending on the support group that surrounds them. For example, supporters of the NRA in Texas might be more supportive or follow different interest than supporters in California. This is an example of the disorganization and the instability most interest groups have due to not having a universal

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