Workhorses of Democracy, by Cole Meunier

 

Interest groups are thought to be the workhorses of democracy, and quite frankly they are. Without them, our voices would not be heard and we would not be able to sway politicians to our liking. One of the best cases for an interest group would have to be the National Rifle Association (NRA). I’m sure most have heard of them, hell some may even think of some fat redneck with an assault rifle. While that may or may not be true, the fact of the matter is that they stand for something. Interest groups are a group of people drawn or acting together in support of a common interest or to voice a common concern. Now the NRA does just that by lobbying Congress on gun control laws, and advertising based on gun laws.

                  Now you may be asking yourself how this involves me and why should I care. By sitting on the sidelines not doing anything makes it so easy for your voice not to be heard and well it isn’t. That’s why it is so important to get involved in interest groups or politics in general. With interest groups you are surrounded by like-minded people who have similar or the same views as you. With this your voice is much louder with thousands rather than just one. Now don’t get me wrong you don’t have to be in a group to have your voice heard, it just makes it easier.

                  In 1994 congress passed a law banning the ownership of certain assault rifles. The NRA tried to stop this from passing even with their roughly 3.5 million members (at the time, it is now 4.3 million). Unable to stop the law from passing they were set on ousting members of congress who supported the ban, mostly Democrats, and the current speaker of the house Thomas Foley (D). The NRA poured money into advertisements across the nation about Thomas Foley betraying gun owners across America. November 1994 came around, with the election results. Republicans took both chambers of congress from the Democrats. Not only both chambers were taken, but Thomas Foley lost his bid for re-election making him the first Speaker of the House since 1860 to be defeated. This is one way to show how powerful that interest groups can be, even though they didn’t convince Thomas Foley to change his mind on the gun laws right away, they were still able to influence politics in their favor.

                  This is just one way that one interest group was able to influence politics. Now imagine all the interest groups that exist in America today, now that’s a pretty large number, but they are all trying to do the same and get what they want. I believe this creates more of a Democracy by representation rather than just voting. The problem that I have with just voting is that when you vote for a Politician, that vote makes it seem like you agree with everything that they bring to the table in which you may not agree with. With voting and interest groups you can vote while interest groups keep the politician in check with what you want.

                   Elections just occurred last Tuesday, and say you voted but did not get the candidate that you wanted elected. Don’t worry, life will go on. Things may not be exactly what you wanted but you can still influence and make a change to the government by interest groups. Hopefully this article helps you with your thoughts on interest groups and makes you want to get involved. I would rather have people get involved than not do anything and complain about how they hate policies that the government made. Get involved.