Interest Groups In Politics

When it comes to politics, interest groups are a main component of the political system. However, much of the time they are not thought about, nor known what it entails to be a part of interest groups. Unlike much of politics, not a lot is known about the behaviors of these political groups, such as what they stand behind, their motives, or their end goals. Research is needed to really understand interest groups because there are so many, and they are all very different in what they stand for. In simple terms, “an interest group is an intermediary between citizens and the government, and it is the task of the organization to covert what it perceives to be the desires of its constituents into specific policies and goals,” (Berry, 1977). Overall,
their goal is to affect public policy without being elected into congress. Another way to explain interest groups is through the act of lobbying.
Simplistically, lobbying is the act of representation. Of course, there is stereotypical ideals about what lobbying is and what it does in our political system. But, “In contemporary America, however, much lobbying takes place at other sites in the executive branch, the courts, and in efforts to gain public opinion support in wider American society,” (Hrebenar, Scott, 1997). While most believe lobbying to be done in the federal court room, much of it is fought at the local and state level. This shows how close interest groups are to the citizens of our country. The proximity of these political groups to the citizens of American demonstrate how we as a country unite when it comes time and fights for what we believe. Our nation holds a majoritarian pluralism view because various groups of individuals will unite and lobby for what they believe until they win or
lose.
Majoritarian pluralism is explained as representing the interests of most citizens. This majority however must be represented by a person or a group of people who will speak for and represent them as a whole. This is where interest groups and lobbyists come into play. When a problem arises in government it is safe to say hell may begin to break loose as people try to figure out what to do, and how to solve things. But with this comes more problems because everyone has their own opinion on how to solve said problem. The lobbyists will then put together campaigns on the solution to the problem. This is how citizens are often then coaxed to sway one way or another on a particular issue, thus resulting in one side winning and one losing. When it comes to politics there is always a winner and a loser. That part is simple, however the process of achieving a winner and loser is the challenging part. While a common goal wants to be reached among the various parties in our government, not everyone is going to be happy with the outcome. When political groups join together to target a certain political campaign they are trying to have the majority voice heard through trying to alter or completely change the way politics are going at the time. For example, back in the summer of 1987, when President Ronald Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, lobbyists came running to campaign against and for this nomination. Millions of dollars were spent to persuade people to go against or root for this new nomination. Since Reagan was trying to appoint a more conservative judge to the court, liberals joined forces to campaign against the nomination by trying to persuade the “swing vote” judge at the time. There were among more than 185 liberal organizations who were opposing Bork, (Hrebenar, Scott, 1997). Political groups from both sides such as, Norman Lear’s People for the American Way, National Organization of Women, and National Abortion Rights Action League from the liberals, and American Conservative Union, Concerned Women for America, and We the People from the conservative side both lobbied for or against the Bork nomination. This demonstrates how the goal of interest groups is to better American from their point of view. While there will always be opposition in government between the liberals and conservatives, interest groups are not the heart of the corruption in government.
Their job is to lobby against certain political topics, because it is what they believe in for their party. However, this is understandable as a political member one should consistently be fighting to better government and American. Eventually, the Bork nomination lost in the full Senate vote. It was a record negative vote of 58 to 42, (Hrebenar, Scott, 1997). President Reagan was not pleased with the outcome and made that fairly known. He said the Congress bowed to the political pressures of interest
groups. This political battle of late 1987 was a prime example of how interest groups can influence such an important political decision that affects one of our branches of government. While many see the outcome of this as wrong and corrupt, the other side sees it as a victory. They see it as making our government and political system stronger as a whole. Overall, interest groups are made to persuade the other side to join them in altering the ways of politics. Many may see this as corrupt, and the group only doing this as a self-serving agenda, but overall it is promoting politics to improve for a better America.