Interest Groups: The New Deal, Civil Rights Movement

There exists an inherent struggle to push environmental policy to the forefront of the political spectrum. This is where interest groups become so vital. With interest groups being capable of unifying behind one common identity, there becomes a chance for political upheaval and renewal. As McFarland discusses the theory of interest group known as critical pluralism, it is evident that interest groups overcoming the issue of collective action, business power, and social movements is indeed possible, but necessitates the accompanying political realignment reminiscent of the New Deal, Civil Rights Movement, or the Vietnam War (McFarland 265). Assuming that we are now in a current political realignment, policy changes in areas like the economy,
public housing, education, and defense would need to be altered with the mindset of protecting the environment in order for the environment to be seen as the central organizing principle of society.
Before understanding the effects of the environment on the various current policies of the United States, it must first be understood why such a political realignment that occurred in the 2008 election would lead to such an outcome. For McFarland, the political change that is possible from such a realignment lies with the notion of the circle theory of interest groups. The circle theory suggests that as time passes, interest for certain issues surges and falls. There is a natural beginning and end to the organization and success of interest groups. The circle theory, given its reliance on time, is able to overcome the issue of collective action in that such interest groups and their success is known to not be indefinite. Rather, the success of such campaigns are fleeting. With the current political realignment that began with the 2008 Presidential Election, such policy changes revolving around the environment may occur, and according to McFarland, they should occur in multiple policy areas.
The first major policy area that would need to be overhauled if the ultimate agenda was the environment would be economic policy.
As it stands now, economic policy revolves such topics as taxation, budgets, and the labor market. Economic policy often targets inflation and unemployment as well as attempting to stimulate economic growth. However, with interests being targeted towards improving the environment, economic policy would need to intertwine, or even supplant, economic growth with economic sustainability efforts. One way such policies may be affected is with taxation. In addition to the current taxation system, it is possible to imagine interest groups lobbying on behalf of the carbon tax, or a general vehicle tax, or advocating for policy changes that tax companies for pollution or subsidizing companies for their green efforts. There are several alterations to the tax code that an environmental interest group could see fit to make; however, these are just a few. Moreover, as demonstrated by the film Carbon Nation, environmental efforts can be used to increase the labor market. Lobbying on behalf of the environment for economic policy change, would do one thing that Americans always seem to call for, increase jobs. It would seem that if the environment were to be the central organizing principle of society, then economic policy would be overhauled, but such changes would not just drastically change the lives of Americans, but could, in fact, improve people’s
lives greatly.
Another area of policy that would likely change in the light of this progressive “era” would be housing policy, or, more specifically, public housing policy.
Although Americans like to think themselves better and more economically stable, there is still a great need for public housing within the United States. If these developments were to be constructed with the concerns of the environment in mind, then the developments would not only be environmentally-friendly, but they would most likely be cost efficient. In Carbon Nation, there was an emphasis on renovating the Empire State Building using greener, cleaner methods. Although such techniques may be more expensive at first, those in charge of the projects were more than aware that the costs of such environmentally friendly efforts would pay for themselves. If these methods were to be used in public housing, then more developments could be built, and the cost of operating such housing would also
decrease. Education reform within the United States is already an issue that receives quite a bit of attention. However, the reform often focuses on improving education for the means of international competitiveness. There is little mention of increasing environmental education as a means of protecting the environment. However, if interest groups in the wake of this progressive “era” were to be focused on a complete and total overhaul as they push towards the environment being the mainstream organizing principle of society, then education reform that includes environmental education would be necessary. As Gore stated, environmental education was essential since “most are partially blind when it comes to our connection with the natural world” (Gore 276). Therefore, integrating education and the environment with policy reform would be essential if the environment were to become the central organizing principle of society. One form of policy that makes the United States unique from other sovereign states is our focus on military and military spending. With the desire to have the biggest, strongest, most capable army, defense spending is often flagrant and done with little thought to the impact on the environment. However, if the environment were to take a more central role in politics as a result of interest groups and the progressive “era,” then there is little doubt that military policy would change. Although a complete overhaul of the military system seems unlikely to consider—Americans are far too attached to the military, and the military is also a substantial provider of jobs—there is room to consider changes made on behalf of the environment. As demonstrated in Carbon Nation, engineering more fuel efficient housing for oversea servicemen not only increases the comfort of the servicemen, but also decreases cost and improves the efficiency of the system as a whole. Thus, the military is certainly a policy arena where policy change would be necessary if the environment were to become the organizing principle of society.
The changes to policies outlined here are simple and only name a few of the potential changes in a few policy arenas that could occur in the wake of this political realignment. However, the important factor to remember is that all of these changes revolve around the environment, and it is reasonable to assume that they could resonate from one interest group. The consequences of the circle theory of interest groups means that the paradox of the collective action problem is rendered moot. Moreover, these interest groups have legitimate influence within the political realm, and, therefore, their calls to action for political change are far more likely to be heard. There are several areas of policy change that would be enacted if the environment were to become the central organizing principle of society. The progressive “era” that we are currently experiencing is far more receptive to such change. Hence, interest groups are capable of rallying behind a common issue and pushing that issue onto the political sphere to inspire change.