een interest group and political elite is discussed in the following section, "Theoretical Approach." The effectiveness of the CBC is assessed in this study within the context of the success of the organization in addressing the social concerns of Black Americans through either legislation or executive policy proclamation. One way to measure the effectiveness of the CBC is to compare the number of positions that the CBC has championed on issues to the number of laws enacted and or executive orders proclaimed that reflected the issue positions of the CBC. Then, of course, one would need to establish a criterion of success. A 70 percent success rate produced only a mediocre grade in school; however, most political parties in a Western democracy would be overjoyed with such a success rate. With only an session average approximating five-percent of overall congressional membership, however, the CBC is unlikely to ever attain a success rate of 70 percent. Perhaps a success rate of five-percent (the proportion of CBC members to the total membership of an average congress) should be used as the criterion for evaluating the CBC. Such a low threshold criterion for success, however, would not be particularly meaningful, as the Ku Klux Klan can likely claim that level of success without any avowed Klan members sitting in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. Black Americans comprise approximately one-eighth of the American population. Perhaps then a 12.5 percent legislative and executive order success rate is appropriate as a criterion of the success of the CBC. Black Americans, however, desire equality, as opposed to a 12.5 percent solution.
It might appear that it is simply not feasible to evaluate the success of the CBC in a quantitative context. There is, however, a rational way to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of the CBC. Such an evaluation requires looking past the organ...