Pressure/Lobbyist Groups in America
These groups play important roles in American politics. Besides the usual political groups, small groups exist. These small groups organize and send information to the politicians and cabinet. These groups “pressure” the elected officials to do things that they “say” are better for the public. Nowadays these groups are called “interest groups”. For example, Greenpeace would push for environmental issues, the NRA would push for gun rights etc.
In the 2000 election, the National Rifle Association funded some of George Bush’s campaignvent 4.3 million members expecting the now former president to meet his end of the deal promise of not to get involved with the gun laws. Before the election, the vice-president of the NRA told senior members of the organization that if Bush won the election they "would have a president where we work out of their office." Bush spent over $400 million over two years in decreasing gun violence, not by cutting down process with which guns can be acquired, but by sentencing those who use a gun for criminal acts to longer sentences and by increasing the number of state prosecutors thus speeding up the judicial process. In May 2001, Gale Norton, told the NRA that "many of you helped President Bush win the election, as a former prosecutor, I understand that the best way to reduce crime is to lock up the criminals."
The only problem with this all is that it is very hard to prove that the pressure groups have got into the Oval Office, there is always the one problem. It is very difficult to prove that they have any influence or ability to influence decisions made in the White House. Ultimately, those companies that get Federal contracts, in this instance for the development of military hardware, may simply be the best ones for the job.
Campaign groups are another matter. They more often than come across on the media. They are self appointed and do not seek any real democratic endorsement. They...