Interests Groups

Interests groups have formed historically in response to change. These groups are created and organized by people sharing a common objective and can indirectly or directly influence American government policymakers. The American Constitution protects the right of groups to organize themselves, peacefully assemble and petition the Government to reconsider grievances. There are many types of interest groups that exist in America. There are interest groups that represent particular industries, environmental issues, labor interest, agriculture interests, consumer interests, senior citizen issues, professional interests, business interest and labor interests. These interests groups can represent private good as well as public goods. The difference is that a public good does not diminish the rest of the citizen's use of the good. A private good is defined as a good that once one person consumes them, no one else can consume the same good. For example, national defence is a public good and just because one citizen is protected doesn't take away protection from other citizens. An example of a private good would be a phone, when you are using your phone it means nobody else can use it simultaneously. This is important to understand because some interest groups advocate for policies or issues that will benefit others that do not participate in the interest group. There are also interest groups that seek policies that may only benefit the people in the interest group. For example, the oil industry may have a interest group that advocates for better policies that specifically benefit the development of oil as a energy resource in order to protect their own profits. While an environmental industry group may advocate for policies that protect an area from pollution but in the big picture, all citizens of the area will benefit from a healthier environment. Oftentimes, interest groups have a bad reputation because historically lobbyists from specific interest groups have used financial power or powerful political connections to influence congress members. This is concerning because regulating lobbyists has proven difficult and leads to many citizens feeling that interests groups do not have a equal voice. This is more a fact than a concern because the power of an interest group not only is determined by the issue they are advocating for but the financial support they receive. However, interest groups are also a form of representation where ideally anyone regardless of profession, gender, race and economic background can organize themselves in a way in which they can participate in the government system. In other words, average people are given the opportunity to join a interest group that reflects their interests or concerns. By joining an interest group, citizens are given a platform in which they can voice their views on policies to government officials. Not only are interest groups specialized on a particular issue, they also can bring public awareness to a policy issue and address detailed information about a policy that public officials can use when making policy choices. Another benefit of interest groups is that they are not apart of political parties. Political parties are generalized organizations focused on winning elections, operating the government and creating policies. In contrast, interest groups are focused on specific policy issues and are unlikely to divide divide the nation. Pluralist theory views interest groups as an aspect of a decentralized structure of government and makes space for each individual's interest to be presented in the policy making process. This theory also believe that interest groups can't dominate the political process because there are so many interest groups within America. The goal of a democracy is for the voices of the people to be represented in the government system and interest groups are a form of representation for the voices of average citizens to be heard.