Demosclerosis

Special interest groups, also known as pressure groups or lobbies are groups of people who are united through a shared interest, and who intend to influence the government regarding their particular cause, issue or interest where policy-making is concerned. Lobbies have existed in the United States since its origins. For just as long they have been viewed with a somewhat dualistic nature. There are many who feel interest groups are good because they represent different issues that the public is concerned about, and, through united effort and lobbying, they have much more influence than the single voter to influence public policy and legislators. However, there are those who feel interest groups are detrimental to American government because some lobbies that are powerful, may really be doing more damage than good to the American public because they are primarily self-serving and profit-oriented. One only has to look at the massive pro-tobacco lobbying groups that kept the dangerous effects of cigarettes hidden for decades because of so much political and legislator influence and control (think of Bob Dole in the last election to see how pro-tobacco groups have finally become ineffective in the face of massive anti-tobacco lobbying groups that have evolved in reaction to their imbalance of power and influence). One such person who sees special interest groups as more detrimental than beneficial to A

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all of the members of these interest groups (or most of them) are American citizens and voters. So, because we all want the government to do what we want them to do for us, and their resources are limited, there is a natural conflict setup largely based on the principle that one man’s trash (i.e., special interest) is another man’s riches (i.e., a competing or opposing special interest). Rauch (1994: 47) points to this inherent conflict as being an enabler of demosclerosis, “even in principle, the line between public-spiritedness and pursuit of private gain is subjective. One person’s public-spirited crusader for environmental sanity or entrepreneurial freedom is another’s job-destroying Luddite or selfish tycoon.” To illustrate and example of this, think of the battle between the environmentalists and the loggers in North America’s forests. One of the biggest reasons that special interest groups have gained so much political influence over the past 30 years is because of the changing nature of them. Groups are good at using many different techniques to influence legislators. Many of them have offices in Washington and many are even represented by ex-Congressmen or politicians. They retain law firms, public relations sp
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Approximate Word count = 2128
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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