GOVT 2301: American Government
Factions>
General Considerations:
According to Publius in Federalist #10,
faction is inevitable whenever one attempts to establish an order whose
intended aim is to secure the rights and liberties of its citizens. This claim
becomes more evident when one examines the differences of opinion about what is
meant in the Declaration of Independence by "life,"
"liberty," or "the pusuit of happiness." Writing as
Publius, Madison points out that
A zeal for
different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other
points, as well of speculation as of practice; an attachment to different
leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power; or to persons of
other descriptions whose fortunes have been interesting to the human passions,
have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual
animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other
than to co-operate for their common good. (Federalist #10)
Incidentally, there are two principal ways in
which one can address the problem of faction. The first, eliminating the causes
is seen to be "worse than the disease," for to eliminate the causes
of faction would destroy liberty in an effort to force everyone to share the
same opinions. Such a policy would directly contradict the purpose of
government outlined in the Declaration, not to mention the Constitution, of
securing rights on the one hand, and securing "the blessings of
liberty" on the other.
The second means of addressing the problem of
faction is to control its effects. In this case, faction is recognized as
"sown in the nature of man," yet the problem is made even more
difficult when a nation or a government seeks to secure liberty, for
"Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it
instantly expires." In order to allow for political discourse, liberty must
be secured; when liberty is secured faction will spread, and the most one can
(or should, in Publius’ account) do is control only the most harmful effects of
faction. Thus we live in a nation rife with differences of opinion, and groups
who all seek to affect government.
Public Opinion
These differences of opinion are often
expressed either through voting in elections; through public demonstrations,
including boycotts, protests, or even violence; or through organized efforts as
part of an interest group.
One looks to the distribution of public
opinion—the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs shared by some portion
of the citizenry—in order to determine how united or divided the public is on
any given issue. When there is general agreement, there is said to be a
consensus. When opinions are sharply divided, it is a divisive opinion. When
not enough have formed an opinion, there is said to be a non-opinion. Yet,
public opinion is different from private opinion, in that public opinion must
be expressed.
In order to understand how public opinion is
formed, it is important to understand how individuals form their opinions.
Political socialization is the process by which individuals acquire political
beliefs and attitudes. The interactions an individual has with others has a
major impact on the formation of individual opinion. Some of the most important
factors include family, educational influence, peer groups, religious
orientation, economic status; demographic traits such as race, gender, age,
marital status and geography; as well as the influence of formal and informal
leaders, generational effects, and information media. These factors not only
affect individual opinion, they also affect how these opinions may ultimately
be expressed, including whether or not one votes, joins an interest group, or
supports a political party.
Interest Groups
An interest group is any organization whose
members share common goals and which actively attempts to influence government
policy. More specific than a faction where each group seeks its own interest
generally, an interest group must have some level of organization, and seeks
actively to secure its interests by affecting public policy. When people who
have commonly shared interests work together to change a law or to affect any
aspect of public policy they are acting as an interest group. Unless
participation were strictly limited to individual participation in a popular
government, interest groups are inevitable, especially since organized groups
are more likely to have influence than groups who lack organization.
Furthermore, although groups which have a large membership are also more likely
to exert more influence than those with few members, even relatively small
groups, such as a farmers’ union, can still influence policy. Generally,
however, an interest group requires a combination of organization and large
numbers to ensure success.
After an interest group has formed, its
members are likely to attempt to recruit new members. The larger the membership
is, the more likely it will be successful. Individuals may choose to join an
interest group for a variety of reasons. There may be social benefits, such as
group activities, social events, or public recognition. There may be economic
benefits, or opportunities derived from participating in the interest group.
Some are committed to a particular issue, and their beliefs draw them toward an
organization that focuses on that issue. Generally, individuals become part of
interest groups for a variety of reasons, and have multiple incentives for
their participation.
Consequently, there are thousands of interest
groups in the United States. Alexis de Tocqueville pointed out that "in no
country of the world has the principle of association been more successfully
used or applied to a greater multitude of objectives than in America."
This statement is no less true today than in 1834 when Tocqueville made the
observation. Why are interest groups so successful in the United States?
Perhaps the very structure of American government lends itself to their
reinforcement, since "Liberty is to faction what air is to fire."
Types of Interest Groups.
Since an interest group is any organization
whose members share the same basic objective and actively seek to secure that
objective by influencing government policy, nearly any organization can be an
interest group. In fact, interest groups often form alliances with others to
achieve their ends. Some are active at the national level, others at the state
level, some at the local level, and others at all levels of government.
Generally, an interest group can include the following:
1.
Business interests, including individual businesses, such as General
Motors, ADM, Microsoft, or AOL/Time-Warner, as well as groups of businesses,
such as the National Association of Manufacturers or the US Chamber of
Commerce.
2.
Agricultural interests, such as the American Farm Bureau Federation or the
National Farmers’ Union, who seek to affect policy concerning either
large-scale farming or farmers generally.
3.
Labor interests, including labor unions such as the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, as well as associations of labor unions, especially
the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations
(AFL/CIO).
4.
Professional interests, such as the American Bar Association (representing
attorneys) or the American Medical Association (representing physicians)
5.
Public employee pressure
groups, such as the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees
and the American Federation of Teachers.
6.
Environmental
interests, concerned with policy
affecting the environment. Unlike many other interest groups in the United
States these groups are primarily concerned with global issues. Examples
include the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and the Audobon Society.
7.
Public interest groups, especially consumer pressure groups. Most interest
groups attempt to be seen as acting in the interest of all citizens, and thus
seen as public interest groups. However, public interest groups are often
limited to public safety issues, occupational safety issues, and consumer
issues. In the United States, the public interest group movement finds its
origins with the efforts of consumer advocate Ralph Nader.
8.
Single-issue interest
groups, narrowly focused groups which
are not involved with any policy that does not directly affect the major issue
of the organization. These include groups such as the National Right-to-Life
organization and the National Rifle Association.
9.
Government interests, including foreign governments, state governments, tribal
governments. These groups seek to promote the goals of the businesses and the
people of their particular country, state, or tribe by influencing the policy
of the United States Government.
10.
Religious
organizations. Often seen either as
strictly separate from government or else as single-interest organizations,
religious organizations generally seek to influence policy not necessarily by
lobbying Congress or any other direct means (some would argue this would
undermine the separation of church and state, yet some religious organizations
have been known to lobby), but by influencing public opinion, generating public
pressure on certain issues.
Interest Group Strategies
In order for an interest group to be
successful, it must be able to influence officials who are responsible for
making public policy. There are two primary methods used to influence officials
of the government: direct action toward the official, and indirect action which
is an attempt to have others directly influence the official.
Direct techniques include
1.
lobbying, i.e. direct
discussion with policy makers concerning the views of the interest group. This
is usually associated with members of the legislative branch, although
executives are also frequent targets of lobbyists. Effective lobbyists will use
any or all of the following to present information favorable to the group the
lobbyist represents:
a.
private meetings with
public officials
b.
testifying before
congressional committees
c.
testifying before
regulatory agencies
d.
submitting proposed
legislation to congressmen or state legislators for introduction
e.
arranging social
gatherings for informal discussions
f.
providing information to
legislators
1.
Ratings lists. Published
voting records on selected votes by members of the legislature. A higher rating
indicates support for issues important to the interest group publishing the
ratings list. A lower score indicates opposition.
2.
Campaign assistance,
including endorsements for election, unpaid volunteers who work for the
election of the candidate, and information about voters or potential voters.
3.
Financial contributions.
Political Action Committees (PACs) provide candidates with contributions which
cannot exceed $5000 per election. This is referred to as a hard money contribution,
as is a contribution made by an individual donor, which cannot exceed $1000 per
candidate. These limits were imposed in 1974 in an effort to limit the practice
of individuals and interest groups securing support for their interests by
financing a congressman’s campaign. Of greater concern more recently is the
issue of soft money, that is, financial contributions by individuals and
special interests not to campaigns, but to the political parties to which the
target candidate is a member. While efforts
to regulate soft money through legislation have met with opposition in Congress, limits on
contributions are defined under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.
Indirect techniques include:
1.
Generating public
pressure by informing the public about a specific issue. This is often done by
advertising in newspapers, on the radio, and on television. Such messages are
often subtle, intending to slowly gain support for an issue or group. Recent
examples include commercials promoting plastic as a recyclable and
environmentally sound product.
2.
Using constituents as
lobbyists. This requires the interest group to convince members of the group to
contact a member of the legislature by mail or phone about a specific
legislative proposal. More recently, interest groups have used the Internet as
a tool to contact thousands of members at once and to facilitate contact with
officials.
3.
Building alliances as an
effort to unite groups which have common goals. This tactic is useful in
projecting a positive image to the public and to policy makers.
In generating public pressure or using
constituents as lobbyists, interest groups generally employ one of two basic
methods:
1.
The Rifle: Groups may
target a single policy maker, a single district or state, or a single
demographic group.
2.
The Shotgun: Groups may
target Congress generally, or may embark on a nationwide campaign reaching the
general population.
Regulating Lobbyists
Efforts have been made to regulate the direct
efforts of lobbyists in government. In 1946, the Federal Regulation of Lobbying
Act established guidelines, which required anyone who received money for the
purpose of influencing legislation to register as lobbyists. It also required
that they disclose their lobbying-related financial information and make
quarterly reports about their activities. In 1995, the 105th
Congress overhauled the lobbying laws, redefining a lobbyist as anyone who
spent 20% of the time lobbying members of Congress, and requiring lobbyists to
register within 45 days of making contact with a congressman. Reports must
disclose the nature of the lobbying business twice a year, and lawyers for
foreign companies must register as lobbyists. Tax-exempt organizations and
religious organizations, however, are exempt from the 1995 requirements.
Many claim that these regulations are not
strong enough to curb the power of organized interests. At the beginning of
each new Congress, numerous proposals which would dramatically restrict
interest group activity are proposed. However, since interest groups are
already highly successful at influencing legislation, most of these proposals
quickly die in Congress.
Political Parties
In a way, political parties are themselves
interest groups, and at the time of the ratification of the Constitution, they
were generally understood to be a part of the "associations"
Tocqueville would write about in 1834. Although there is no provision for
political parties in the Constitution, they have evolved into a crucial part of
the operation of government. Unlike other interest groups, a political party is
primarily focused on electoral politics. The goal of any political party in the
United States, is simply to have its members hold elective offices, although a
competing theory of partisan behavior describes a "responsible party"
organization which develops a party platform and ensures that party candidates
and elected party members adhere to party principles and objectives. They
recruit candidates, they organize and run elections (although the
responsibility for the conduct of general elections falls to individual
states), and mobilize their membership among voters. They present alternative
policies to the electorate, and make clear the party position on particular
issues, usually in the form of a party platform. Finally, they provide
opposition to the party whose members form a majority in Congress, or hold
executive offices such as the Presidency.
Political parties did not formally exist when
the Constitution was ratified, but the seeds of the two-party system we now see
originated among supporters of the Constitution (Federalists) and those who
thought the state should be a locus of authority and a advocated a Bill of
Rights (anti-Federalists) From 1790 to 1816 the political landscape began to
form, with the Federalists as the first party to gain control of the national
government. By 1796 the Democratic-Republicans, headed by Thomas Jefferson, had
entered into the process. This party held the government from 1817 to 1828 and
today’s Democratic Party claims its origins with Jefferson. The Federalists
eroded as a viable party, to be replaced in a two-party system in 1828 by the
National Republicans, or Whigs. This would last until the 1840s when the Whigs
began to collapse and the Democrats split into separate factions. The
Republican Party did not become a factor until shortly before the Civil War.
From 1860 to about 1928 the Republicans controlled the government and the
Democrats were seen as the opposition party. Since the 1930s these two parties
have traded control of the government, while minor parties have had only a very
limited influence.
The Three Faces of a Political Party.
Political parties in the United States are
composed of three components:
The party organization, which provides
leadership and structure for the party, outlining a party platform, fielding
candidates, and submitting electors to represent their party in presidential
elections.
The party in electorate, which includes those
people who identify with the party or who regularly vote for the candidates of
the party in general elections. Without the party in electorate it would not be
possible for the party to have electoral success.
The party in government, which includes all
elected and appointed officials who gained office on the label of the party.
Once in office the leaders work to organize the efforts of the party in order
to influence government policy which is favorable to the platform of the party.
In this way it is clear that a political party, while unique in its
institutionalized electoral position, is nevertheless a kind of interest group.
For a political party to be successful, it
must have all three components. Institutional obstacles such as state and
federal laws which favor the existence of a two-party system, the
winner-take-all electoral system, and social self-perpetuation of the two-party
system have all prevented new parties from developing or even allowing existing
third parties to have parties in government. However, minor parties have had an
impact in that they raise issues which the two major parties must address.
Political parties may choose the candidates
they field for a particular elected office through a variety of means,
including caucuses and primary elections. The older method, the caucus, focuses
on the party organization, who meet to establish the party platform and choose
those members who will seek to attain elected office. Caucuses may also be
opened to include those party members in the electorate who wish to
participate. Generally only those in attendance may choose who shall run.
In a primary election, on the other hand, the
choice of nominee is up to the party in electorate through an election, not
unlike a general election for the office itself. Most state parties have
adopted the primary election system in order to connect partisanship with the
electorate. Primaries may either be closed, or direct, primaries, in
which only declared party members may participate in the election, or they may
be open primaries, in which any registered voter in the state or
district is eligible to participate. Primaries and caucuses are the principal
methods by which the field of potential candidates for any election, but
especially the Presidential election, may be narrowed down. Consequently
electoral politics typically receives a great amount of attention from news
media organizations, often publishing poll results and following the
"horse race" that is an electoral season.