American Democracy: Different Types Of Interest Groups

Our American Democracy supports several different types of interest groups. Private and Public Interest Groups, seek public policies that benefit economic interests. Business Interest Groups are umbrella organizations which include, small and large corporations, including the Chamber of Commerce whom represents more them 3 million individual businesses.
Labor Interest Groups consist of large powerful groups such as the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), which represents 57 unions and 9 million organized workers. These Unions under the AFL-CIO, press for policies to improve working conditions and ensure better pay. Professional Interest Groups are concerned with their professions standards and work
to influence government policy regarding them.
Agricultural Interest Groups are made up of three broad based agricultural groups, with the largest being the Farm Bureau Federation who represent the interests of 5.5 million families. They have helped get fair prices on products and subsidies for farmers. Consumer Interest Groups, are organized for the protection of the consumer. The largest Consumer Interest Group is the Consumers Union, who have been influential with strongly criticizing government agencies when not acting with the consumer in mind.
Identity Interest Groups are groups of people who share the same race, ethnicity, gender, or other characteristic. Senior Citizens are considered part of this group and have a powerful representation with AARP, who can be a political force to be reckoned with. Ideological Interest Groups are groups have a share political perspective or ideology. Environmental groups fall under this category and support pollution controls, wildlife protection and clean-air legislation.
Single-Issue Interest Groups are numerous different groups and focus on a single issue such as MADD and the NRA. Government Interest Groups are efforts by states and local governments to lobby for things such as additional funds or medical marijuana use.
Interest groups are directly involved in the election process by joining and working with the political parties that favor their platforms.
The often times provide support for legislators who favor their policies. Interest groups encourage their members to vote for the candidate who supports their interest or threaten with withdrawal of votes.
These Interest Groups or “Super Pacs”, funneled nearly $1 billion dollars into election spending which funded negative ads during the 2012 election cycle. These groups use online campaigns, television, magazine advertisement and other techniques to steer the public which in turn will steer the legislator into passing legislation favoring what they want. Rating systems are used to score legislators according to the percentages they vote favorably with a particular group and legislators do not want to earn low scores with Americans for Democratic Action (ADA).
An example of influence on a previous election was the “Occupy Together Movement” in 2011 and 2012. This movement put inequality on the forefront of the political agenda in 2012. Another example was in 2004 when a coal company donated $3 million dollars to an election campaign of a West Virginia Supreme Court. This entire sum of money was spent on the race and that Supreme Court later ruled in favor of the coal company in a $50-million-dollar
case.