Where do you stand on the question of gun control? What about prayer in public schools? Abortion? An increase in the minimum wage? What can you do to lend support to your views on these and other issues? How can you increase the chance that your postition on these issues will carry the day? Joining with others who share your views is both practical and democratic. Organized efforts to protect group interest are a fundamental part of the democratic process. Moreover, the right to do is protected group by the Constitution. Remember that the 1st Amenment guarantees"the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Interest groups are sometimes called"presure groups" and often"special interests" or "organized interests." They give themeselves a variety of labels: leagues, clubs, federations, unions, committees, associations, and so on. But, whatever they call themselves, every interests group seeks to influence the making and content of public policy. Used in this general sense, public policy includes all of the goals that a government pursues in the many areas of human affairs in which it is invlolved-everything from seat belts, speed limits, and zoning to flood control, old-aage pensions, and the use of military force in international affairs.
Because interests groups exist to shape public policy, they operate wherever those policies are made or can be influenced. They also function at every level of government-on Capitol Hill and elsewhere in Washington, D.C., in every one of the 50 State capitals, in thousands of city halls and country. In somewhat indelicately more than a century ago:"Where the body is, there will the vultures be gathered." Remember, our society is a pluralistic one. It is not dominated by any single elite. It is, instead, composed of a number of distinct cultures and groups. Increasingly, the members of various ethnic, racial, religious, amd other groups compete for and share in the exercise of political power in the country.
What are interest groups?|It's role|Good or Bad?|Types of groups|Criticisms
