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Political parties and interest groups
Interest groups and changing political power
Political parties and interest groups
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Interest groups have been a significant component in our modern day society and the democratization process of America, which have been criticized and also praised on whether interest groups have benefitted America as a whole. Interest groups are simply defined as a group or organization of people who share similar goals and ideas to try to influence public policy by maintaining or changing the status quo and achieving what the certain interest group advocates and embodies in the political atmosphere. These interest groups present to the public and politics their fundamentals and support politicians who share the same interest and common goal as that certain interest group mostly by financial support. These interest groups also rally American …show more content…
Mainstream media mainly covers the newsworthy and controversial actions the NRA has performed depicting the NRA negatively most of the time. As our American society has established that the National Rifle Association is one of the most efficient and effective interest groups in our politics, the mainstream media has added along with that fact that the NRA is an extremely controlling organization that most of the time gets their way due to how much money the organization pours into the politicians. The NRA has established a significant and sort of intimidating role in American politics that makes it exceedingly difficult for politicians to oppose their principles. The mainstream media has also portrayed the NRA as bullies, if you will, by threatening and harassing the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies to investigate the threat of firearms (Tom Mckay, 2015). The NRA influenced their Republican allies in Congress to prohibit the CDC to conduct any research that would ‘advocate or promote gun control’ after a study exposed the risk of firearms in homes in 1996. The CDC banned itself from conducting any research related to firearms in fear of budget cuts. Mainstream media has also tried to expose the National Rifle Association of having an ulterior motive: to sell
Essentially, interest groups use many different tactics to accomplish their central goals but this paper will detail 2 of them. The first being lobbying, which is the act of persuading businesses as well as government leaders to help a specific organization by changing laws or creating events in favor of that group. Interest groups use this technique by hiring someone to represent them and advocate their cause to on the behalf of the entire group. These hired representatives usually have more than enough experience within the political field and are able to persuade connections within the government for help with their concerns. This method gets a lot of criticism because although lobbyist offer their input to government officials on pending laws, they only look at what is favorable for their cause. When trying to make a difference you have to not only reflect on your argument but on the side affects of that argument as
Interest groups, lobbyists, large corporations, and PACs try to influence the congressional committees' bills so they can have a say in the legislative process. When an interest group hears about a bill that is being debated on in a committee, they try to influence a members vote and they try to get a part of the bill changed. For example, a lobbyist came to me on a bill I proposed on making health care plans have no minimum requirement on benefits the company gives to its patients. He told me about how he did not get the right treatments and tests done on diseases he has and now is suffering badly from them. It was because the health plan did not have to give him anything extra. He changed my mind on the bill, and I changed the bill to setting a minimum standard on benefits given to patients.
The best known of the Pro-Gun Lobby is the NRA, headed by Charlton Heston and Wayne LaPierre. The Anti-Gun Lobby includes such organizations as Handgun Control, Inc., The Violence Policy Center, and the ACLU, and is commonly associated with such figures as Sarah Brady. It is doubtful that anyone would dispute that reducing violent crime is a good thing. Most pro-gun lobbyists will concede that guns are used in violent crimes, and that guns act as an enabler for criminals. It is impossible to deny that mass shootings could not be carried out without guns.
We elect politicians on the basis on the issues by which they stand, and these issues are either held up or weakened by the numerous interest groups that exist today. Interest groups target both major and minor issues, using all of their resources to sponsor or overpower the groups’ concern. Interest groups are composed of a limited range of the body of voters who have a great stake in the issues their group support. They make evident the issues their group supports. Their resources are used in an attempt to make their issue public policy. Interest groups are persistent; they do not give up until they succeed. They lobby congress, take legal action, and attempt to influence election results in order to benefit their cause. ”The AARP monitors local and national legislation of interest to its members.”1 The AARP, an example of a non-PAC interest group, focus their efforts to electioneering and media. They influence the elections through their voter guides, election forums and the large senior voting population. Through television, radio, and periodicals the AARP is able to achieve many of their goals to aid retired persons.
Throughout the years there has been an ongoing debate over the Second Amendment and how it should be interpreted. The issue that is being debated is whether our government has the right to regulate guns. The answer of who has which rights lies within how one interprets the Second Amendment. With this being the case, one must also think about what circumstances the Framers were under when this Amendment was written. There are two major sides to this debate, one being the collective side, which feels that the right was given for collective purposes only. This side is in favor of having stricter gun control laws, as they feel that by having stricter laws the number of crimes that are being committed with guns will be reduced and thus save lives. However while gun control laws may decrease criminals’ access to guns, the same laws restricts gun owning citizens who abide by the law; these citizens make up a great majority of the opposing side of this argument. These people argue that the law was made with the individual citizens in mind. This group believes that the Amendment should be interpreted to guarantee citizens free access to firearms. One major group that is in strong opposition of stricter gun control laws is the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA argues that having stricter gun control laws will only hinder law-abiding citizens. The final outcome on this debate will mainly depend on how this Amendment is going to be interpreted.
In today’s society media plays a major role in the perception we have of how certain issues in our society are improving, worsening, or staying the same. One hot bed issue over the years has been that of random shooting and gun control. It seems a few times a year there is a very high profile random shooting spree in schools or other public locations that draws the entire county’s attention for a week or two. During this media fallout many different strong viewpoints come out as to why gun control is not doing enough to protect ourselves from these atrocious crimes or that it is not the gun control that is the issue, but better yet the people committing these crimes that are the problem. Many reporters and news outlets quite often take a stand on gun control during this time and create a bias against guns and the right people should have to possess them. The following will compare and contrast opposing media outlets and their biased reporting on gun violence and how the general public perceives this based on what information is presented the news. The sources will be analyzed on the placement of articles, headlines, visuals, what information is included and omitted, and organizations attached to the news. NBC and Fox news will be the sources of the gun control issues. Recently a random shooting in an Indiana grocery store took place that served as a news item on both NBC and Fox internet websites.
Gun violence in America has escalated drastically over the years. But it seems the only time we are outraged about the shootings or abuse of the 2nd Amendment is when there is a massacre of innocent people or a cop misusing his power and killing an innocent black person. “There have been at least 110 mass shootings in the US since 2009 at least 33 of which occurred in a public place” (TJF). After the vigils and outcries for change for change that fall on deaf ears, the problem is ignored and the abuse of the 2nd Amendment continues. There is no reform but instead there is another battle between the NRA, Congress, and the President of the United States. Gun regulation is constantly debated and is a very subjective topic because of the differing
Since the NRA’s was charter in 1871 for the promotion and encouragement of rifle shooting on a scientific basis, the organization has grown to over four million members. The organization describes itself as non-profit and non-partisan. However, it has more Republican members than Democrat members. Although it will endorse candidates from either party as long as the candidate supports its pro=gun position. Its stated position is for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection of hunting and self-defense.
Do they play an important role in our democracy since they claim that they represent many people? There has been a continuing debate over the proper role of interest groups in the United States democracy. Interest groups are organized group of individuals who share the same ideas and their main goal is to influence media, lawmakers, and people with their ideas. On one hand, interest groups members and their leaders assert that they offer crucial information and services to the lawmakers and that lawmakers aren’t experts regarding every bill proposed
Since there are two sides to every debate, the antithesis of this position views gun control as unnecessary. This view is strongly held by the National Rifle Association, a very powerful organization, which has nearly 3 million members and an annual budget of 88 million dollars. The NRA is highly effective in motivating thousands of gun owners into action against gun control legislation. Lobbying, advertisements, letter-writing campaigns, and contributions to political candidates who oppose gun control have been some of the establishment's most effective strategies in its fight against tighter firearms laws. Most members of the NRA believe that restricting firearms to prevent gun-rel...
They believe the problem with gun-related violence rests with the person holding the gun. As the National Rifle Association (NRA) puts it, “Guns Don 't Kill People -- People Do.” The crimes depend on human nature and their environmental background, rather than owning guns. What the study demonstrated, says Glary Kleck (a professor at the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University), is that “people who live in dangerous circumstances are more likely to acquire a gun in response to those circumstances. One of the reasons they got a gun in the first place was because they anticipated being a victim of some kind of violence” (Worsnop). He explained that the reason to make the accessibility of guns easier is not for the use of criminals, but specifically for the commoners for their safety. Moreover, he clarifies that victims who use guns are less likely to be injured or lose property. Since Kleck considers the proposed assault weapons ban “a nothing piece of legislation,” he doesn 't think its approval by the House says anything about the NRA 's influence with Congress. “The only really quantifiable indicator of NRA strength is its membership,” says Kleck. “And membership has been growing, not declining. The NRA now has 3.3 million members, each paying $25 or more a year (Handgun Control claims about 1 million members)” (Worsnop). Mentioning those facts, Kleck notes that the gun control law is at the state level, not at the federal level and it requires a lot of money for regulating the gun law in all
... and informs the public there is often some bias. The sponsors will pay the media and tell them what to report and broadcast. For example, NBC or CBS will air stories pushing for gun restrictions on their networks. On the other hand, Fox news will talk about how their need to be less restrictions on guns. Basically, the sponsors of the networks play a vital role in dividing public opinion while gun violence continues to take innocent lives. Tougher gun laws are critical to curbing unnecessary gun violence. The United States could learn from Canada and the United Kingdom that putting tougher restrictions at a federal level is critical to limiting gun violence. Overall, America loves its guns and doesn’t like it when laws are passed that limit guns; however, the passage of laws in some states and other countries has lowered gun related fatalities by a large margin.
The American Constitution is sacred in that it hasn’t changed for hundreds of years, but it has come to our attention that some of the amendments are outdated. The second amendment states that everyone has a right to bear arms which sounds righteous and fair, but we live in a far different time than our fathers that wrote the Constitution did. Today, we have real problems with guns because it is so easy to obtain and so many misuse the power of such a dangerous weapon. It has always been American culture that owning a gun as a household self defense tool is considered a norm. The many cases of mass shootings made some people demand stricter regulations on gun or even ban guns completely. However, it would be illegal for the US government to ban guns, as laid down in the Constitution. It would seem “unamerican” that a man doesn’t have the right to buy a gun if he wanted to. It is also difficult to make any changes on gun laws, because of the National Rifle Association. It is an incredibly powerful organisation that represents gun owners ' rights. It is also known as one of the most influential lobbying groups in Washington. In order to lay stricter laws on guns, the government would have to go through them first. “[The NRA] have the ability to recruit and fund competitors for politicians who don’t listen to them. Lawmakers like their jobs and most try to keep them for life” (Culhane, 2015, p.2). The NRA have many wealthy members, and it is corrupted. Whenever congress tries to restrict any gun rights, the NRA will help any campaign financially to defeat them. Even though majority of the people in America want to change the gun laws, they are not as strong as the NRA. The NRA is strongly supportive of the American gun culture. Therefore, any suggestions that disadvantage gun right will be drowned to
The National Rifle Association generally believes that if more ordinary, law-abiding citizens carried weapons, criminals would not have a safe place to commit mass murders and other violent crimes.
Power is a crucial asset to have, and the NRA has kept its power to capitalize off of it, to capitalize off of the deaths of students. Counterculture and gun-rights activists have blamed and accused the mainstream media of wrongly blaming guns for the several school-shootings this year, while others agree with that guns pose a threat to learning institutions. The media has played a large role in influencing people’s mindset or opinion on an issue, what’s to say that it cannot control society’s actual mind, such as Big Brother and the idea of