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 will
eventually force
another vote in Congress. This happens
daily in Washington. All
segments of
business and industry have lobbyists. It
seems that private citizens are the
only group on
their own.
The lumber and paper industry is an important
business to many people. They too
lobby in Washington
to ensure that no restrictions are put on their jobs. There is another
group fighting
against the lumber industry and that is the environmentalists. The
"Greens"
feel that the loggers should not be allowed to cut down as many trees as they
do. These two groups confer with senators at the
state and national level trying to
persuade them to
their side. However, the loggers' unions
join the big companies to
protect their
jobs. This is a very steep obstacle for
the "Tree Huggers" to overcome.
The
lumber industry
wins due to the money they have at their disposal.
Political Action Committees are other groups
which help in the persuasion of
Congressional
people. PAC's are organizations
established by private groups to support a
candidate for
public office. "In 1971 PAC's
became increasingly popular because the ban
on the use of
corporate money to set up PAC's was lifted"(Groliers
"PAC"). PAC's
contribute
enormous amounts of money into the campaigns for political candidates. The
amounts are
increasing every year and it is a multi- million dollar business. Single Issue
politics is also
a problem. This form of politics is
quite popular these days, it is when
individuals or
groups support or reject a candidate based on one view of a certain issue.
The types of
issues include abortion and gun control to name two.
It is now a lot easier for the Special Interest
Groups to persuade the lawmakers.
The spread of
direct primaries, television-based campaigning, and the decline of the
traditional
political party strengths has left many legislatures vulnerable to special
interest
groups. The advances in technology have
strengthened these groups power since
they can be heard
by more people. This access to mass
medid also makes them more
appealing to the
candidates.
The amount of money spent through lobbying is
outrageous. "In the first half of
1996 lobby's
spent at least $400 million dollars to influence the federal government"
("Lobbyists"). "One of the largest spenders being
Phillip Morris which has spent an
estimated $11.3
million dollars in the first half"("Lobbyists"). This exorbitant amount of
money being spent
by one of the largest tobacco companies can
be attributed to the
governments
recent threats made against the industry.
Philip Morris is obviously trying
to coheres anyone
into believing in their case.
Big Business seems to have dramatically
impacted the political system of this
country. The United States is a country of equality
and freedom of speech. These
lobbying groups
hurt the integrity of what this country is all about. We think of the
United States as
a country ruled by a democracy. The
lobbying groups view this country
as their country,
they tell the legislatures to do something hand them a check the receiver
will do what the
group wants, not what the people want.
We do not elect Congress
people to be
puppets for the rich businesses and groups who are self-centered and only
care about
themselves. We elect them to do what is
best for the public.
I believe there has to be a limit with what the
lobbies can do financially. I know
there has been
attempts made to control the groups but, it is not enough. The United
States needs to
continue to give people equal say in the laws which govern our society.
Our lawmakers can
not listen to the voice of reason in one ear and hear the crinkling of
money in the
other and have to make a decision. It is
human nature to want money. It is
sad but true for
the right price almost anyone can change there mind on something. The
only way for this
equality to happen is to get rid of these special interest groups and
PAC's and
lobbies. The answer is YES government is
dominated by Big Business.
Works Cited:
"Political
Action Committee." The 1995 Groliers Multimedia Encyclopedia. CD-ROM.
"Lobbyists
spent $400 million in first half of year." Portland Press Herald 23 Sept.
1996
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