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Power Of Interest Groups

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In our textbook, interest groups are described as ubiquitous, or like Santa Clause, because they are everywhere in American politics . Interest groups are organized groups that try to influence public policy on every level of government. Most people are against the idea of groups, even though most of us are members of interest groups whether we want to admit it or not. Next, not all interest groups are equal. Political scientists have identified a number of factors that can be used to compare the power of groups to influence public policy. Size, unity, money, information, offense or defense, leadership, and public image are all factors that can be used to compare the power of interest groups. There are three types of interest groups that are …show more content…

They cover a wide range of interests and sizes. At the one extreme might be a local nature group that meets monthly to learn about birds or plants and build some houses for bluebirds. At the other extreme are complex groups that have state, national and local affiliates, like the National Rifle Association (NRA), the Audubon Society, or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The largest citizen group in terms of membership is the AARP, which once stood for the American Association of Retired Persons. A few years ago it dropped the formal name, because it had expanded to include older people who are not retired. However, because the label was so well known, it kept the well-known acronym, AARP, as a name rather than an …show more content…

Racial profiling is the use of race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin by law enforcement agents as a factor in deciding who to investigate, arrest, or detain, except where these characteristics are part of a specific suspect description. Over the past few years there have been countless court cases that racial profiling was the center of. In the rise of these cases, there have been many interest groups created that are geared towards stopping racial profiling. One of those groups are “OneAmerica” who has launched a racial profiling campaign called “Racial Profiling: Face the Truth Campaign”. When doing my research on OneAmerica, they have been fighting against racial profiling and they have supported legislation to ban the problem for years. They have partnered with the “Rights Working Group” which advocate for civil liberties and human

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