AP US GOV - Unit 4, Interest Groups & Policy-Making

Interest Group

Interest Group

a group of people who join together to try to influence the government to pass policies that benefit/favor that group 

Interest groups influence people by…

1. trying to shape policy by mobilizing voters to elect officials who are aligned with the interest groups beliefs/policy positions 

2. Putting pressure on elected officials to vote in alignment with the groups positions

3. Gather, and provide information for elected officials to help them with their jobs (ex: what bills to write)  

Note: their information is biased, and they have an agenda!!

Linkage institution

groups/organizations that connect citizens to the political process

Interest groups as Linkage Institutions

• Interest groups serve as linkage institutions by collecting the goal/opinions of their members and communicating those wishes to elected officials in power 

• They keep their members informed about what is going on in government (ex: washington dc, or jefferson city)

• These groups don't want to get certain members elected (like political parties are) they want to influence the government's policy by persuading elected officials

Pluralist theory of democracy

competing minorities (groups) that represent different interests, and ideas, as they compete over public policy, but no one group dominates the other 

• Interest groups are an example of pluralist theory of democracy!!

Why are there so many interest groups in the US?

1. A diverse population, creates diverse opinions/ideologies

2. Decentralized government (federalism = 3 levels of gov groups, a group can attempt to influence, or separation of powers = 3 branches of gov, a group can try to influence)

3. Political parties are weak, and interest groups can step in to more strongly express to opinions of the people

4. The 1st amendment (freedom of speech, assembly, petition to the gov) is a constitutionally protected 

2 main types of interest groups

1. Institutional interest group = individuals or organizations that represent other organizations or trade interests (ex: intergovernmental groups, professional associations, or corporate groups) 

2. Membership interest group =  interest groups consisting of citizens with similar beliefs in issues (ex: NAACP, Sierra club, ACLU, NRA, or AARP)

“Free rider” problem

people who are not involved in an interest group by are benefitting from the organization 

• They do not pay the dues for the group, or are members 

2 types of incentives to get people to join interest groups 

1. Material incentives = money, tangible goods, or services provided by an interest group to get people to join 

2. Purpose incentives = a benefit that comes from serving a cause; the appeal of the interest groups state goals (people feel good about their decisions to support the group)

Politics

the process of determining who receives the benefits and who pays the cost of public policy (who gets what from the gov, and who has to pay for it)

Lobbying

to seek influence with a politician about a specific issue 

Interest group tactics - Providing information

credible information is important tool for interest groups because legislators rely on the interest groups information because they are not experts on all of the issues they must vote on 

• If the issue is narrow & complex and involves interest groups these types of issues are of great value to politicians 

• If an interest group's information is not credible legislators will not trust the group 

 Interest group tactics - Interest group rating

interest groups “ratings” of politicians, based on how often a politician votes in favor of policies supported by the group 

• Could be out of 100, or an A-F rating 

• Is used to tell others who they should, and shouldn’t be voting for

  Interest group tactics - The “revolving” door

 The “revolving” door government officials (members of congress & and their staff) obtaining future job offers in interest groups in exchange for the work they are doing in government 

• Comes with strings attached!! 

• Congressional staffers are more susceptible to the “revolving” door because they are paid less, and have less chance of a future job once they leave washington (having a guaranteed higher paying job is attractive to them)

  Interest group tactics - Grassroots mobilization

generating public pressure on legislators by mobilizing citizens (an “issue public” to contact their legislators by phone, email, or letter 

• Its a 2 step process, #1 Interest groups will pressure members to reach out to officials, #2 members will do grassroot lobbying and pressure members of congress

• This can also be done by hosting rallies and marches 

“Issue public”

a smaller group of the public that are directly affect or concerned with a specific issue 

  Interest group tactics - Bring litigation/“organization cases”

interest groups will find plaintiffs that are negatively impacted by polices they want to challenge, bring lawsuit on their behalf in hopes of convincing the courts to strike down policies that the interest groups oppose 

Ex: NAACP found Linda Brown, in the case Brown v. Board of Education 

• Interest groups use litigation to change laws rather than directly lobbying members of congress because they think that they have a better change of talking to the courts 

Interest group tactics - Filing amicus curiae briefs

“friend of the court” interest groups will submit this type of brief to judges for them to consider the groups opinions when making their decisions on court cases (when an interest group is NOT a party to the case, but still has an interest in the outcome of the case)

Legal brief = a written legal argument present in court to influence its decisions in favor of one party in the case 

Interest group tactics - Endorsing candidates

 interest groups can create a public statement in support of a candidate running for office (called an endorsement) 

Interest group tactics - Spending money to influence elections

interest groups form political action committees (PACs) a group that raises money, donates, and spends money to influence elections 

• Their goal is to influence elections and “buy” to access politicians 

• Super PACs can create independent expenditures (political advertisements that are used to influence the outcome of elections, but are created without direct coordination with a candidate's campaign) 

Interest group tactics - Hiring lobbyists to do direct lobbying

 interest groups hire professional lobbyists who have personal or professional connections to legislators or staffers to engage in direct person-to-person persuasion 

• Taking members and their staffers out to dinner 

• Lobbyists are described as “wining and dining” officials as they try to persuade officials (proving information, campaign donations, promising future jobs)

Insider strategies

strategies that cultivate relationships between lobbyists and government officials (usually involves the lobbyist meeting with the government official privately, and putting pressure onto the official) 

Ex: Sugar farmers, doctors and lawyers fighting for malpractice reform 

• Campaign donations

• Providing information  

• The revolving door 

• Hiring lobbyists/direct lobbying 

Outsider strategies

strategies that attempt to change public opinion or public policy by trying to influence legislators outside of Washington. Interest groups will rally its members, to put pressure onto elected officials 

Ex: NRA (national rifle association), Sierra Club

• protests/demonstrations/marches 

• Bringing litigation in court 

• “Grassroots” mobilization

• Interest group rating 

• Independent expenditures 

• Filing amicus briefs

Models of policy making for interest groups - Who will pay the cost of the policy? 

• Widely distributed = many people will pay (smaller cost) → this works better than narrowly distributing because people do not care about paying a small cost 

• Narrowly concentrated = a few people pay (larger amount)

Models of policy making for interest groups - Who will benefit from the policy?

• Widely distributed = many people will pay (smaller cost) 

• Narrowly concentrated = a few people pay (larger amount) → this causes more people to be involved, and motivated in the interest group 

Models of Policy Making - Majoritarian politics

benefits from widely distributed & costs are widely distributed (many benefit, many pay)

Models of Policy Making - Interest group politics

benefits are narrowly distributed & costs are narrowly distributed (few benefit, few pay)

Models of Policy Making - Client Politics

benefits are narrowly distributed & costs are widely distributed (few benefit, many pay) → very successful

• Most successful costs are widely distributed & hidden little incentive for the larger group to organize and oppose the group)

• Ex: the sugar lobby is an example of Client politics

  • Though this affects us people do not care enough to do anything about it 

  • There are no opposing groups for the sugar lobby

Models of Policy Making - Entrepreneurial politics

benefits are widely distributed & costs are narrowly distributed (many benefit, few pay)

• Least successful costs are narrowly concentrated huge incentives for the small group are are personally affects to organize to attempt paying the costs 

Excludible benefit

only members of the interest group receive benefits 

Non-excludable benefit

benefits gained by the interest groups are enjoyed by all people whether they are members of the interest group or not  

• “Free rider” problem

Pork barrel legislation

= legislation that describes the way federal govt spends taxpayer dollars 

• Legislation that gives benefits to people in certain congressional districts or states in hopes of winning the district or states vote in return 

*this is seen as a wasteful govt spending because the cost are widely distributed but the benefit is narrowly concentrated

• Legislators pass “pork” because they want to get reelected, and this leads the people who were benefited to vote for the legislator 

How is “pork” passed 

• Logrolling = when one legislator votes in favor of a proposal favored by another legislator in exchanged for a promise of future support on their own pet project in the future 

• Earmark = a provision of a law that is snuck into a tax or spending bill by one or a few lawmakers without a committee hearing or other public discussion → are very complex, and people don't read the fine print of the laws 

Social movement

= a widely-shared demand for change in political or social order 

• Is loosely organized (whereas interest group are VERY organized)

• Can look like a protest 

• Their goal is to bring awareness 

• They don’t use insider lobbying tactics (that interest groups use)

Ex: Black Lives Matter Movement, Women's Rights Movement 

• Social movement is an example of participatory theory of democracy 

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Why was it written: he wrote it in response to a group of white southern religious leaders who issued a public statement saying that Dr. King's nonviolent protest in Birmingham, Alabama was “unwise and untimely”

Main Argument: Nonviolent social disobedience is an acceptable last resort by members of a social movement, used to bring change during times of oppression (protesting, and sit-ins)

• This document is similar to the main argument of the declaration of independence because in both documents people are identifying that they are being oppressed, and they are justifying why they are disobeying the government 

Claim 1). The US isn’t upholding the value of equality (this value is mentioned in the declaration of independence, and 14th amendment: equal protection clause) 

Claim 2). Nonviolent civil disobedience is justified when the law that is being broken is unjust

Claim 3). Social movements may need to use direct action in order to get the political or societal change they seek 

After Letter from a Birmingham Jail

After MLK created the Letter the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed 

Civil Rights Act of 1964 required that:

1). Literacy tests were intentionally made to be difficult so that people would not be able to vote 

2). Discrimination in public places were outlawed 

3). The US Attorney General was allowed to enforce the desegregation of public schools throughout the US 

4). Discriminating in the workplace was outlawed 

5).  Discriminating in organizations receiving federal funds was outlawed 

• Even after this act was passed there were many unsolved issues (especially access to voting)

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 required that:

1). It created the Civil Service Commission who hired voting examiners to go into communities (mostly in the south) and required eligible voters in minority areas with less than 50% of voting-eligible population to get registered to vote  

2). Ended the use of literacy tests, and other kinds of disenfranchisement 

3). States & counties with a history of voter suppression were required to get permission from the federal gov. before they made changes to voting procedures

The Civil Rights Act of 1968

The Civil Rights Act of 1968 (aka. the Fair Housing Act of 1968) required that 

• Discriminating in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on religion, race, national origin or sex was not allowed 

FEC

federal election commission → Whose job is the regulate and enforce campaign and finance law

PAC

an entity that in interest group used to raise, donate, and spend money to influence elections 

Interest groups v. pacs 

• Pacs are formed by interest groups and exist solely to collect donations from their contributors to donate or spend to influence political campaigns 

• People do not join PACs, instead they contribute their money to them

Rules/limitations for pacs

• Pacs must have at least 50 contributors, and must donate to at least 5 different candidates 

• PACs can only give $5,000 per election per candidate 

• Can only give $15,000 per year to a national political party 

Consequences/results of FECA Law: 

FECA Law = Federal Election Campaign Act 

1. Created an individual contribution limit 

• $1,000 limit per election per candidate 

2. Created PACs (political action committees)

• Each person can donate up to 5,000 per PAC per election

  3. Federal taxes can be used to match funds for presidential campaigns only (created the FEC)

Consequences/results of FECA Law: 

• Until the law was passed independent expenditures, and soft money was unlimited (this gave incumbents the advantage because they are more well known than challengers)

1). Independent expenditures

2). Soft money

3). Unintentionally increased the incumbency advantage: 

• As limitations were added it made it harder for challaneers to raise money, because incumbents already have a donor network, and are proven winners 

• PACs tend to vote for incumbents (candidates that are most likely to win)

• Typically winners are the people who spend the most money 

 Independent expenditures

can be done by a Super PAC, corporation, or labor union that could spend as much money it wanted whether it was supporting or opposing a candidate as long at it was “independent” 

Soft money

money given to political parties that are spent on party related activities but are not directly connected to a specific candidate (ex: get-out-the-vote drives)

Buckley v. Valeo

• This case look at the $1,000 individual contribution limits even onto one person's campaigns 

• Candidates can spend as much of their own money as they want, but there is still a $1,000 limit per candidate per election

Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act 2002 (“McCain - Feingold”)

1). Banned soft money (political parties cannot take unlimited amounts of “soft” money, makes all money “hard” money)

2). Increased the individual contribution limit from $1,000 to $2,000 per candidate (the law is changed every 2 years based on elections its now $3,300)

3). Banned independent expenditure ads from running 60 days before general elections, and 30 before primary elections 

4). “Stand by your ad” = a legal requirement for every ad that says who is paying for the ad (candidate, PAC, etc) 

FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life

• PACS were already banned from making independent expenditures that referred directly to federal candidates within 60 days of a federal election, and 30 days within a primary election

1). Issue advocacy - As long as ads are not directly involved with candidates, and the election they are allowed to run the ads as long as they relate to issues only (grassroots mobilization)

PACs

donate money, and can make limited contribution to campaigns or to parties (regulated by government)

• AFTER citizens united case super PACs are made 

PACs 

• Can receive money from others ($5,000)

• Can give their money to individual candidates, and political parties $15,000 (only so much money)

• Can give their money to Super PACs (regulated) 

Super PACs

raise money towards campaigns for candidates and create independent expenditure (not regulated by government)

Super PAC

• Do independent expenditures 

• Can receive unlimited amounts of money (interest groups, individuals, labor unions, etc)

• Can ONLY  spend their money on independent expenditures