Chapter 7 Interest Groups ZThe Nature of Interest Groups ZPrivate organizations Ztry to persuade...

Chapter 7 Interest Groups

The Nature of Interest GroupsPrivate organizations

try to persuade public officials to respond to their members

Unlike political partiesdo not nominate candidates, focus on winning

electionsStimulate people to be involved in public

affairs and to participate in politicsProblem

influence disproportionate to size and occasionally use unethical tactics

Role of Interest Groups

1st Amendment“the right of the people to

peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances”

Allows for creation of interest groups

Gun control? Prayer in public school? Increase in minimum wage? Abortion? Gay rights?

Political Parties and Interest GroupsBoth consist of people who unite

for a purpose…OverlapImportant differences

Nominations Political parties pick Interest groups influence

Primary focus Political parties who, noun Interest groups what, issue

Scope Range of public affairs

Interest Groups… Good or Bad

James MadisonThought factions were bad

Undo influence of the few over the many

How stop? Eliminate factions, eliminate

freedom Balance, many factions

Necessary evil

Positive attributes Stimulate interest in public affairs

Why is this interest important? Represent based on shared ideas not

geography Teachers Farmers

Provide the gov’t with info Employment, price levels,

Vehicles for political participation One mom vs MADD

Checks and Balances Keep tabs on public agencies

Compete Limit power of each other

Clean air act? Auto industry -vs- environmental

Negative Attributes Influence

Proportion to size? Dependant on how organized and

financed not size… Representation

Who and how many? The world will never know

Views Not all ways represent views of all

their members Normally driven by a small active few

Tactics Bribery, threats, violence abortion

Shapes and Sizes

Membership Thousands, millions, hand full

Foundation Economic interest

Business labor

Ideas Gay rights

Welfare Protections of certain groups

Veterans, seniors, homeless

Multiple Can belong to many groups

Groups based on Economic Interests: how people make their money

Part OneBusinessExamples

NAM: National Association of Manufacturers

Big businessChamber of Commerce

Smaller businessesBusiness Roundtable

150 chief executive officersTrade Associations

American trucking association, American Restaurant Association

Groups based on Economic Interests: how people make their money

Part TwoLabor

ExamplesAFL: American Federation of LaborFOP: Fraternal Order of Police

Chapters in each stateNot always see eye to eye with

National chapter

Groups based on Economic Interests: how people make their money

Part ThreeAgricultureExamples

National Grange Oldest, Most conservative

Focus on welfare of families North east and Mid Atlantic States

American Farm Bureau Largest, Most powerful

Midwest opposing gov’t regulation “Let us do our job”

National Farmers Union Strength from smaller less fortunate farmers

Dirty Farmers Upper Mid West and West

Groups based on Economic Interests: how people make their money

Part FourCertain professions Require extensive training and specialization

Medicine, law, teaching Examples

AMA: American Medical Association Doctors

ABA: American Bar Association Lawyers

NEA: National Education Association Teachers

True impact Why would these organizations have influence

upon public policies disproportionate to their size?

Groups based on Economic Interests: how people make their money

Part Five Promote Causes Welfare of Certain Groups

American Legion: vets (police action) Veterans of Foreign Wars: Vets NAACP: National Association for the Advancement

of Colored People Religious organizations

NCC: National Council of Churches protestants

ADL: Anti-Defamation League Jews

Public Interest Groups Unlike other groups focus on benefiting all

Americans Public Good, health

All Groups are not Created Equal Who is likely to be more successful? Gun manufacturers or gunshot victims? Business or Consumers? Defense Contractors or Taxpayers? Why? Mancur Olson’s “Logic of Collective

Action” says that: the smaller the group, the more concentrated the benefits of organization, the more likely organization will occur

Interest Group influence is dominated by for-profit groups at the expense of those that are less easily organized

Organizations having Washington representation (%): Corporations

45.7 Trade/other business 17.9 Foreign Commerce/corporations 6.5 Professional Associations 6.9 Unions 1.7 Citizen’s Groups 4.1 Civil Rights/Minority 1.3 Social Welfare/Poor 0.6

Iron/Cozy Triangle A close relationship among

special interests, congressional committees, and the bureaucracy

This community can have very extensive collective power if all 3 sides of the triangle want the same thing

Are relatively impervious to interference from Congress as a whole, the White House, or the Public

The Corn Iron Triangle Corn has become a victim or its own

success. Yields have become very high. What would you expect to happen to price?

The market price is less than the cost of growing the corn. What would you then expect to happen to supply?

Wrong. In order to support the flow of cheap corn, the government gives direct cash subsidies to farmers for the difference between their cost and the market price. How would you expect farmers to respond?

Increase production. Why does the government do this? Very strong relationship (Iron Triangle)

between Congressional Agriculture Committees, Corn Processors (mainly Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill), and the Department of Agriculture

The Corn Iron Triangle Who benefits from this Iron Triangle? Food production is a low profit, small growth

business because here are a lot of competitors and limits on how much we can eat.

But processed food solves those problems. Corn can be processed into a variety of

products (i.e. high-fructose corn syrup) which add a lot of value to food processors

Because corn is so cheap these products are very inexpensive on a cost/calorie basis so can be offered in very large sizes (supersizes).

Who suffers from this Iron Triangle? Unfortunately, this also great increases our

obesity and adds to the malnutrition of countless others in the world whose own agriculture cannot compete with cheap U.S. corn.

Military-Industrial ComplexWhat are the three poles of

Eisenhower’s Military-Industrial-Complex Iron Triangle?

Defense committees, interest groups (military contractors), and the bureaucracy (the military)

What’s the danger of the MIC?Tradeoff between military

spending and domestic social spending

Military-Industrial Complex President Eisenhower warned: “Every gun that is made, every

warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone; it is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children”

Military-Industrial Complex Greater danger is that we must have

some justification for military spending Operates best in a climate of fear Encourages rather than discourages

military intervention Why was the Cold War an ideal context

for the Military-Industrial Complex? Have we found a replacement for

Communism as a perpetual enemy? What about terrorism?

Potential v. Actual Membership of Various Groups

Group: Potential Membership

Nat’l Consumer League 300,000,000 Af’n Am’n: NAACP 30,500,000 Nat’l Taxpayers Union 180,000,000 Physicians: AMA 620,000 U.S. League of S&Ls 3,782 Air Transport Ass’n 60 Tobacco Institute 11

ActualMembership8,000400,000200,000271,0002,5002211