Is Government Dominated by Business
Special interest groups have dominated government since the advent of
America's political system. Special interest groups or lobbies are collections of individuals who join together to pursue common interests and to influence the decisions on public policies. Many people view special interest groups as an integral part of the political process, legitimized by the first amendment of the Constitution. In that way, special interest groups are good. The point that disgusts many people is that more often then not money overpowers the right decision; that is why Big Business is a problem. The richer the companies and organizations, the better chance they have to persuade the government officials.
In the United States alone there are thousands of special interest groups working for their own cause. Some of the causes they are working for are: business, banking, labor, environment, women, seniors, the economy, and farming just to name a few. Some groups or businesses which partake in lobbying are: N.O.W., Green Peace, AFL-CIO, Teamsters, Sierra Club, N.R.A.,
Tobacco industry and the ACLU. These groups often work at the national, state, and local levels attempting to influence government policy. Many groups have permanent offices in Washington DC. The primary goals of these groups are the passing, blocking, or amending legislation to achieve a favorable ruling for their own benefit. In Washington the groups primary targets are the House and
Senate sub-committees which are the key places where legislation is considered.
The groups often speak in front of Committee hearings to put their views on the record. One of the most well known special interest group is the National Rifle
Association. This group has done tireless work in Washington trying to stop Gun
Control bills from passing in Congress. The worst blow that happened to the
NRA was the passing of the Brady Bill and the Assault Rifle Ban. The NRA believes this is an infringement on the constitutional rights of all Americans.
Recently after a huge lobby in Washington, the NRA forced the Senate to have another vote on the Assault Rifle ban. The way the NRA forces the senate is as followed: the NRA gets together with some senators that they know want to repeal the ban. The NRA gives money to the senators for their campaigns, etc.
The senators then persuade other senators and the NRA has them on their side as well. When the NRA captures enough senators, it forces Congress to bring it to the floor and debate about the issue. In this case, the NRA failed. However, the NRA will continue to support the senators that are a help to the cause and
National Rifle Association of America. (2011). The Institute for Legislative Action. Retrieved April 7, 2011 from http://home.nra.org/#/ila
fight against the passage of the Brady bill. The battle between the NRA and the
8. Siddiqui, Sabrina. “Assault Weapons Ban, High-Capacity Magazines Measures Fail in Senate Vote.” Huffington Post, 17 April 2013. Web. 4 Feb. 2014. .
This is the premise that a nationally known organization, the NRA stands behind. The NRA being the National Rifle Association. They believe that our forefathers included the second amendment for a purpose.
12. Kahane, Leo H. “Gun lobbies and Gun Control: Senate Voting Patterns on the Brady
...done its job protecting it even to today. The powerhouse that the NRA has become is the only interest group that has stood its ground on its beliefs and has never backed down from a challenge given to them by political opposition. The American people seek more of this from our government and this is what has allowed the NRA to become such a powerful group. They have taken blow after blow from the Democrats that have a hold on the government, but they have only grown and gathered more support! This shows that the NRA is not trying to hurt the people or the country, but is simply just standing up for the rights of the American people. Without them we would not be where we are today. Overall the NRA is a un bias group, that not only wishes to educate people about the laws we have today, but to promote them to stand up for their rights given to them by the constitution.
The American Constitution is sacred in that it hasn’t changed for hundreds of years, but it has come to our attention that some of the amendments are outdated. The second amendment states that everyone has a right to bear arms which sounds righteous and fair, but we live in a far different time than our fathers that wrote the Constitution did. Today, we have real problems with guns because it is so easy to obtain and so many misuse the power of such a dangerous weapon. It has always been American culture that owning a gun as a household self defense tool is considered a norm. The many cases of mass shootings made some people demand stricter regulations on gun or even ban guns completely. However, it would be illegal for the US government to ban guns, as laid down in the Constitution. It would seem “unamerican” that a man doesn’t have the right to buy a gun if he wanted to. It is also difficult to make any changes on gun laws, because of the National Rifle Association. It is an incredibly powerful organisation that represents gun owners ' rights. It is also known as one of the most influential lobbying groups in Washington. In order to lay stricter laws on guns, the government would have to go through them first. “[The NRA] have the ability to recruit and fund competitors for politicians who don’t listen to them. Lawmakers like their jobs and most try to keep them for life” (Culhane, 2015, p.2). The NRA have many wealthy members, and it is corrupted. Whenever congress tries to restrict any gun rights, the NRA will help any campaign financially to defeat them. Even though majority of the people in America want to change the gun laws, they are not as strong as the NRA. The NRA is strongly supportive of the American gun culture. Therefore, any suggestions that disadvantage gun right will be drowned to
Black Lives Matter is a movement founded by Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors in response to the tragic death of Trayvon Martin, at the hands of a police officer. Black Lives Matter focuses on the importance of the lives of black people, particularly black men who are the constant target of police brutality in the United States. Other movements began as a response to Black Lives Matter such as the All Lives Matter movement. The focus of this movement was to combat the exclusive focus on the importance of black lives, claiming it marginalized the importance of other people’s lives. Movements such as All Lives Matter are not only unnecessary, but also harmful to the mission of movements like Black Lives Matter, highlighting the necessity for a
Human trafficking victims can be forced to do different things such as physical labor and prostitution. The things that usually are key to trafficking are that the victims are vulnerable to anything that involves a better life or involving moving into the U.S. The main reason is that they suffer from poverty; the victims want to help their family with money and are open to whatever way there is to get money. In addition, many in Mexico risk their lives to come to the U.S. hoping that they can find work. They go through parts of Mexico that are considered to have the most violence with drugs, cartels and trafficking are then most often caught by the cartels and have no other choice but to be a slave working to pay off their “debt” that they have to the cartels. Also the traffickers use everything because the victims are vulnerable, to control the victims often the victims are being belittled by their traffickers, many people that suffered sometimes tell...
...here the Court decisions supported an individuals’ right to own a firearm. In addition, when then New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered the confiscation of all firearms, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The NRA filed suit to protect individuals’ rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Nagin’s actions in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution led to the enactment of a federal law, prohibiting the confiscation of legal firearms from citizens during states of emergency. Although, NRA members are not unanimous in support of its policies, they are unanimous in support of the Second Amendment right. As long as firearms owners perceive a threat of losing the right to own firearms, the NRA will remain a viable organization. In actuality, the NRA’s membership is comprised of citizens, possessing a love of firearms, and fear of their government.
...nd propagating the need for American citizens to be armed in order to defend themselves from a corrupt government. The NRA has been the chief figure in anti-gun control legislation. In fact, The National Review stated in 2007 that, “The
...takes time to educate and promote safe gun practices and competency with firearms. The NRA’s official motto is “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. I believe this is the sole valid argument when talking about gun control. If we look at almost all gun related incidents, most of the time the member involved has some motive or is mentally unstable. Shootings do not simply happen from the gun itself, but the person behind the gun. The NRA’s sole purpose is to get the negative misguided information that the government and media are spewing out, and turn it into truthful information used for the purpose of educating American’s on safe operation and proper use of firearms. Knowledge in this context is power. If the NRA can educate people into realizing guns are not the issue, viewpoints across the country would change, and the second amendment would stay intact.
Tyrrell, R. Emmett, Jr. "The National Rifle Association's Deterrent to Gun Violence." The American Spectator. (2013): Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 31 Oct. 2013
Over the past year, the United States has been plagued with controversy in regards to gun control legislation. On January 24, 2013, Senator Feinstein introduced the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013. The Assault Weapons Ban was a bill written to stop the acts of sale, transfer, importation, and manufacturing of military styled weapons. The NRA-ILA website quotes an excerpt of Feinstein’s bill, which states, “Feinstein’s new bill are as follows: Reduces, from two to one, the number of permitted external features on various firearms. The 1994 ban permitted various firearms to be manufactured only if they were assembled with no more than one feature listed in the law. Feinstein’s new bill would prohibit the manufacture of the same firearms with even one of the features.” (NRA-ILA) Wayne Lapierre, Executive Vice President of the NRA, said in 2009, “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the guns you want to ban and you don’t want to ban. You’re going to ban these semi-autos, and then it’s going to be handguns, and then it’s going to be pump shotguns.” Lapierre’s statement supports the fact that the recent gun ban legislation across the United States will not solve the problem of increased violence.
Euthanasia despite having its general un-appeal is supported by many people in society, because it allows us to have freedom of choice in life. The individuals are spared the misery of a disease that is incurable. The people can overcome the pain and torture leading to an inevitable death. Euthanasia might seem like running away from the problem at hand. However, we must realize that many people face outcomes where they suffer and are literally tortured until they die. Cases such as various forms of cancer come to mind. In these cases the people know the end is coming, all this pain, and suffering will lead only to death 's door. The human body on its own is unable to fight and stop cancer. People