Interest groups
Introduction
Interest groups are made up of groups of like-minded people who come together in order to influence policy. They differ from political parties, which are organizations where people come together with similar views to win elections. Both interest groups and political parties, as well as the media and elections, are linkage institutions since they are all organizations that link citizens to the government. Interest groups utilize lobbyists, who are individuals who contact government officials on behalf of an interest group to influence policy. Interest groups are what James Madison referred to as factions in Federalist 10 since they are made up of people who are united by a common passion, interest, or idea. Interest groups function in American society due to the First Amendment freedom of speech clause, allowing them to freely advocate for their causes.
What leads to the formation of interest groups?
Economic development:
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The Industrial Revolution led to the development of mass-production techniques, where a large number of workers were able to gather to manufacture large quantities of standardized products. This led to the creation of labor unions so the workers would be protected from the employers as far as working conditions, pay, and benefits.
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Farmers did not need to participate in any political activity, as they consumed what they produced. However, once farmers began producing cash crops to sell in unstable markets that were dominated by imported crops, the farmers came together to request that taxes and tariffs be set on imported goods.
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After the invention of corporations, there was a need to form business groups to represent the needs of businesses before the government.
Government policy:
- Wars generate veterans who demand pensions and other benefits. For example, the Grand Army of the Republic was the first large veterans’ organization that was formed to represent Union veterans of the Civil War. This interest group fought to secure pensions for the veterans as well as benefits such as voting rights for black veterans, and advocated for the election of Republican political candidates.
- States have allowed lawyers to regulate themselves, leading to the creation of the American Bar Association, and doctors to also regulate themselves, leading to the formation of the American Medical Association.
- Congressional legislation allowed employers to bargain with labor unions. They can negotiate with the unions to end strikes and establish fair wages. The creation of the social security program by Congress led to the formation of interest groups such as AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) to fight for the program and lobby the government on behalf of senior citizens.
Charismatic leadership
- At times, leadership is required for interest groups to form.
- These leaders can use their organizational and leadership skills to form interest groups during times of change.
Social movements
Social movements occur when there is a wide demand in society for change. Social movements could be liberal, like the environmental movement, feminist movement, civil rights movement, or union movement. Social movements could also be conservative such as the Tea Party movement favoring limited government, pro-life movement, or gun rights movement. 35% of non-farm workers were members of the union during the New Deal. The Union movement has been weakened as of late, since the public is not as supportive of unions as in the past, and the U.S. economy has shifted from industry to service-oriented jobs (financial services). The exception to a weaker union movement is the Government worker unions and teachers unions, such as the American Federation of Teachers are still powerful.
Institutional vs. membership interest groups
Institutional interest groups represent certain organizations and have fixed agendas to favor the organizations that they represent. For example, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce represents businesses and is a very powerful institutional interest group due to its resources. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbies Congress for lower taxes.
Membership interest groups are made up of individual members who are looking to influence policy. Examples of membership interest groups include the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the National Rifle Association (NRA), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The challenge for membership interest groups to attract membership is referred to as the free-rider problem. Since potential members of an interest group like the NAACP will benefit from civil rights laws regardless of membership, they do not have an incentive to pay to be part of its membership. Therefore, the interest groups must provide incentives for members to join.
Those incentives are as follows:
- Material incentive (Monetary Incentive): Interest groups might provide financial benefits for members to join. For example, as a member of AARP, one can get free tax advice or receive pharmacy discounts.
- Purposive incentive: If an interest group provides ideological reasons for members to join who strongly believe in the interest group’s values, they will have an incentive to join. Ideological interest groups are organizations that recruit members by appealing to their convictions and beliefs. Public-interest lobbies are organizations whose goals benefit non-members. They may bring lawsuits to advance their cause (ACLU-American Civil Liberties Union) or do research to advocate for their causes, like Think Tanks such as the Cato Institute.
- Solidary Incentive: At times, people want to be around like-minded people and have a place to socialize. Therefore, interest groups such as the NAACP form local chapters for people in local areas to have an opportunity to hang out and be social.
Activities of interest groups
Provide Information
- This is one of the most important activities of lobbyists who work for interest groups.
- Information is valuable to busy legislators and bureaucrats because it is in short supply, and legislators must take sides on many issues that they do not have time to be experts on.
- The information provided by lobbyists is detailed, up-to-date, and not publicly available
Ratings
- Lobbyists provide ratings for members of Congress to show how they evaluate their performance and views important to the interest group. The ratings would also influence voters to support the members of Congress. For example, a Democratic member of Congress would want a high rating from liberal groups such as the NAACP and AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations), and therefore would want to support the group’s policies to get a high rating.
Political cues
- Lobbyists let politicians know how a particular issue would fit with their ideological leanings and values. For example, Republican politicians may want to make sure that they are on the conservative side of an issue. They would feel more comfortable voting on an issue if a group such as the NRA (National Rifle Association) is on the same side of an issue as they are.
Outsider and insider lobbying
- Outsider lobbying: This is when lobbyists get people outside the government to directly pressure members of Congress by getting people involved. This is also called grassroots lobbying. Lobbyists use radio, fax machines, the internet, and television to get information out quickly and easily, and get people to contact their representatives advocating for issues important to the interest group. Astroturf lobbying is a deceptive way to give an impression of grassroots lobbying. This is when tactics such as fake social media accounts and payments to people to engage in protest are used to give an impression of public engagement.
- Insider lobbying: This is when lobbyists go straight to Congress’s offices to talk to them and advocate for their issues.
Money
- Interest groups contribute money to political candidates through PACs (Political Action Committees). PACs are arms of interest groups that are legally formed to raise and spend money on political candidates. As we learned before, there are thousands of PACs, and there are limits to how much they can contribute to candidates.
- Lobbyists also advocate for earmarks for their clients. An earmark is a provision in a law that provides benefits to a small group of people even though the benefits are paid for by taxpayers. This is also referred to as a pork barrel project. Examples of earmarks are roads, bridges, research centers, and community centers. Earmarks are often criticized for being wasteful spending that are inserted in a bill for a Congressman to be able to claim to his constituents that he is being effective in Washington.
Civil disobedience
- Interest groups participate in protests, marches, and sit-ins to advocate for their policies and influence the government. These tactics could be peaceful, such as a march, or violent, such as bombings or blockading abortion clinics. These tactics put the government officials in a difficult spot since they are forced to either respond and appear to react harshly or ignore the situation and appear to be unresponsive to people’s demands.
Litigation
- Interest groups such as the ACLU and NAACP engage in litigation or take legal action. They seek action through the courts and use their attorneys to win cases.
- Interest groups also submit amicus curiae briefs, which are filed to argue for a side in a court case to lobby the judges to rule in their favor.
Revolving door
This is when federal government workers leave their jobs to take positions in the private industry, working as lobbyists, lobbying the federal government.
- Some worry that this allows private interests to improperly influence government decisions, as a federal official can use their government position to do something for a corporation in exchange for a job after exiting the government. A person could also use their personal contacts in Washington that they gained from working in the government while working in the private sector.
Rules:
- Former executive branch employees may not represent anyone before their agencies if they were directly involved in.
- Former executive branch employees may not represent anyone before their agencies for 2 years if the matter came within their official sphere of responsibilities
- Former executive branch employees may not represent anyone before their agencies for one year, even if they were not involved in the matter
Reform
Congress has passed numerous laws regulating lobbyists and interest groups. A few examples of such laws are listed below:
1973 law
- The law restricted PACs (Political Action Committees) to spend no more than $5,000 per candidate per election cycle
1995 law
- The law tightened the regulation on lobbyists to include the following: Lobbyists must register with the House and Senate
- The definition of lobbyists is someone who spends at least 20% of their time lobbying and is paid at least $5000 in any 6 months to lobby and must report the names of their clients, their income, and the issues they lobbied on.
2007 law
- This law was intended to eliminate any conflict of interest where members of Congress would receive benefits from lobbyists in return for votes or political favors.
- There may not be any gifts of value from lobbyists or firms hiring lobbyists to politicians.
- There may not be any reimbursement for travel costs from lobbyists or firms hiring lobbyists.
Other laws
- Organizations will lose tax-exempt status if they do any serious lobbying.
- NAACP lobbies, so it is not tax exempt, but the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which does not lobby, is tax exempt.