In truth, there is no policy difference between the accessibility of interest groups today, and interest groups in the time of James Madison. Interest groups operate on behalf of those who feel, for some reason, that they are not being represented as they wish. These groups or individuals may hold this opinion of their elected representatives, the President, the media, or any of the various federal organizations that in some way represent the public sector.
The framers of the Constitution ensured that power, on a Federal level, could not be concentrated in the hands of a few. They did this by skewing the elected representation of large populations. A few individuals were thus elected to voice the general opinions of many (Lowi & Ginsburg, 1994). If population increased or dropped, so did representation. The Federal government was divided into three main branches, with the powers within distributed so that no one individual or branch of government had complete command of legislation, political power, or accrued value. Checks and balances were written into the constitution, to reassure the general population that one branch of government had to depend on other branches to accomplish legislative, legal, and fiscal policy. Operating the Federal government was made unwieldy on purpose (Lowi & Ginsburg, 1994). Speed was not of the essence, overall and general service to the populace was.
Still, the possibility exists that large numbers of the population, or even unrecognized members of American society are not represented. This possibility can arise because of quickly changing political or financial circumstances. There may simply be a splinter group that thinks the United States took the wrong track a hundred years ago, and wishes to be heard. Thus the term interest group is accurate. However, having an interest that one feels is unheard, fairly or not, and getting it heard are two different things.
It is difficult to imagine ...