Haven’t had a lot of creative ‘juices’ lately, but I just posted a blog for my Political Science class (dealing with interest groups). So I thought I’d show ya’ll that …
Interest groups are a collection of people who try to influence the government. A lot of times, these interest groups are influenced by public and private corporations who persuade politicians to act in there own interests. Public officials often feel pressured to act on these urges because these ‘lobbyists’ provide them with financial contributions.
The difference between interest groups and political parties is simple. Lobbyists are simply groups of people who coerce politicians in their favor on a specific issue. Political parties, on the other hand, are huge groups of people who have a collection of different beliefs. They often focus on a vast amount of different issues, rather than focusing on just one.
In a pluralist democracy, there is a multiplicity of interest groups which create a balance of power. Which means, because there is always one or more interests groups fighting against an opposing one, no lobbying group can ‘monopolize’ or take control over power.
Personally, I would join the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which is a highly influential lobbying group that strives for gay rights. If i was a member, I would attempt to show American citizens how/why gays/lesbians deserve civil rights, such as marriage. I would do this by putting them in the mind of someone who does not have the same rights as they, and asking them how they would feel if they were denied rights which every other American enjoyed and abused. There is so much hypocrisy occurring when gay marriage is argued – many of the same men who argue against it are ones who have gone through several marriages themselves, and have cheated on their spouses. But it is hard of course, to get people out of a certain mindset – and that will be the biggest difficulty moving forward.
