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United States electoral system
The electoral system in the united states
Role of lobbyists politics
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Many citizens take to the polls in election time to vote for their candidate of choice. For many this is the opportunity to vote someone into office who has heard their voices and will meet their demands. Nowadays lobbyists play an important role in such as educating our elected officials. Lobbyists have been influential when it comes to making a certain bill into a law. Being a lobbyist in the United States is legal and is part of the democratic process. Many can become a lobbyist but the majority of them are college graduates and some have advance degrees. They attend hearings, research proposals and legislation, and educate officials. Using all these methods they will attempted to influence the official in voting on a certain bill that may or may not affect them or even the public. It is illegal for elected officials to take cash or anything considered gifts for their vote. It has happened. In Philadelphia four lawmakers were caught taking cash or gifts from lobbyists. There should be more monitoring when it comes to lobbyists taking officials out for dinner, drinks or entertainment. Sure the lobbyists might …show more content…
It should be noted that any amount spent should be reported. It should also be noted that lobbyist would be required to notate when and on who they spent money on. And only one lobbyist should be allowed to spend on any elected official. A separate committee overseeing the lobbyists to keep track of their spending, who they work for, when and what representatives they contact and how many times they reach out to them should be created. All of the lobbyists should be registered regardless if they have no intention in spending any money. Any or if not all of these ideas could be useful in the future to prevent any influence on our state representatives. This can ensure that the peoples vote and voices do really
Monitoring and sanctions are the more costly of oversight functions and the least likely to be used; they also do not ensure that the noncompliance problem will end. (McCubbins, Noll and Weingast 1987) This follows with McCubbins and Schwartz who theorize that members of congress do not neglect monitoring and their oversight functions but that they prefer the fire-alarm policing in which citizens tend to alert them to problems because it allows them to also do their legislative work (1984). Monitoring along with its economic costs also has political costs if an action that an agency takes in its noncompliance creates a new political interest then by sanctioning them members can incur political costs that would not have otherwise been present with proper anticipation and prevention. (McCubbins, Noll and Weingast 1987) Anticipatory prevention of noncompliance is a form of latent control that congress can exercise that is more effective; Calvert, McCubbins and Weingast develop a theory that includes this finding, “Latent oversight is, by definition, never observed; but its role in implementing political control over the agency is in principle just as important as that of active control (Calvert, McCubbins and Weingast, 1989).” This often occurs when the agent fears sanction in the case of this theory developed the veto, this point would
“Lobbying groups would be able to finance lawmakers' travel as long as those funds were channeled through a nonprofit foundation. And almost all banned perks would still be permitted if given in the context of a campaign fundraiser(Arkush).” The watchdogs almost seem pointless if there are loopholes to allow lobbyist to continue to abuse corporation’s like Jack Abramoff did to the Indian tribes. Through loopholes lobbyist and lobbying groups are still allowed to take lawmakers on golf junkets due to their nonprofit foundation affiliations, even though travel is banned, it is acceptable because of the nonprofit foundation affiliations. Restrictions on lobbying need to be tightened even more due to the fact of the loopholes allowing lobbyist to continue to waste money on bribing lawmakers and other government officials.
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
The current use of soft money in the US Governmental elections is phenomenal. The majority of candidates funding comes from soft money donations. Congress has attempted to close these funding loop holes; however they have had little success. Soft money violates standards set by congress by utilizing the loop hole found in the Federal Election Commission’s laws of Federal Campaigns. This practice of campaign funding should be eliminated from all governmental elections.
The past few years, I’ve taken an interest into our constitution. As a result of this interest, I would at times sift through interesting Supreme Court cases. Tinker v. Des Moines and Johnson v. Texas would, to some, conflict with cases like Schenck v. United States. The line drawn on the issue of free speech to others may be blurry, but to me, it has always been crystal clear. So when Super PACs, Political Action Committees that can donate unlimited funds to an independent cause, arose, I concurred with the Supreme Court’s decision to protect free speech. To most it seems, Super PACs are just evil PACs, and they, unlike regular PACs, ruin elections. They really only differ by their method, however, when discussing the movement of money. Super PACs are run “independently”, and PACs are usually partisan.
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.
Part B: Summary of Evidence 3. Part C: Evaluation of Sources 5. Part D: Analysis 6 Part E: Conclusion 8 Part F: Sources 9 Part A. Plan of Investigation Research Question: To what degree are lobbyists’ successful at influencing the legislative process in Congress? This investigation analyzes the influence of lobbyists on the legislative process in Congress.
The parliament is where laws are made in the UK. The laws often made apply to England and at times areas in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Their decisions come from different sources and pressure on the parliament can often change their ideas on policies. The government is who normally puts laws forward and introduces them. If the laws do not derive from them, they are from pressure groups, the media or law commission. Other pressures are present inside as well as outside the parliament, such as, the Royal Commission and the European Union.
The issue of campaign financing has been discussed for a long time. Running for office especially a higher office is not a cheap event. Candidates must spend much for hiring staff, renting office space, buying ads etc. Where does the money come from? It cannot officially come from corporations or national banks because that has been forbidden since 1907 by Congress. So if the candidate is not extremely rich himself the funding must come from donations from individuals, party committees, and PACs. PACs are political action committees, which raise funds from different sources and can be set up by corporations, labor unions or other organizations. In 1974, the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) requires full disclosure of any federal campaign contributions and expenditures and limits contributions to all federal candidates and political committees influencing federal elections. In 1976 the case Buckley v. Valeo upheld the contribution limits as a measure against bribery. But the Court did not rule against limits on independent expenditures, support which is not coordinated with the candidate. In the newest development, the McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission ruling from April 2014 the supreme court struck down the aggregate limits on the amount an individual may contribute during a two-year period to all federal candidates, parties and political action committees combined. Striking down the restrictions on campaign funding creates a shift in influence and power in politics and therefore endangers democracy. Unlimited campaign funding increases the influence of few rich people on election and politics. On the other side it diminishes the influence of the majority, ordinary (poor) people, the people.
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.
Many politicians didn’t even use their money for good causes. For example, they spent their money in prostitutes, and even drugs. They would even rent cars for prostitutes to ride in and would treat them like princesses with the money they were stealing and kept their trophy wives at home with their kids. They are criminals that know they can’t be touched and will continue to do different
may be voting on laws, but one scandal about a senator, and it could be the difference between
Ever since the Citizens United court case ruling and the McCutcheon court case ruling in late 2013 and early 2014, individuals have been able to pour an unregulated amount money into the campaign funds of their chosen political candidate. At first this does not seem like such a terrible idea until it is realized that the wealthy in America can and are exploiting this system to buy politicians and greatly persuade the votes given by that politician to help the wealthy get wealthier. These two court case rulings can be directly tied to three very large problems in America: legal bribery of federal politicians, federal politicians ignoring the voters and only listening to the donators and federal politicians voting in ways to appease their donators
...k for big business, a private individual, or even the public. The goals and strategies are the same for all lobbyist. Foremost, they must be very good at the art of persuasion, the mainstay of their job. They figure out how to sway politicians to vote on legislation in a way that favors the interest they represent. In our American democracy, people that are not elected representatives shape the laws of our country. If we continue down this path, our democracy will also one day be extinct. We need to get back to the roots of democracy and remember what the true meaning is. Power to the People!