230 CHAPTER 8|INTEREST GROUPS
CHAPTER goals
Defi ne interest groups and
describe the characteristics
of different types of groups.
¾ PAGES 231–39
Explore the ways interest
groups try to infl uence
government policies.
¾ PAGES 239–46
Evaluate interest group
infl uence.
¾ PAGES 246–50
have been getting. Some of the companies and industries that have received
payments may now consider their contributions and lobbying to be the smartest
investments they’ve made in years.”^1 Looking at the same evidence, one member
of Congress claimed that “Wall Street owns Washington.”^2
With examples like these, it is not surprising that Americans are suspicious
of interest groups and worry about their ability to dominate the political process.
What do these companies get from lobbying? How can average Americans
change government policy when they are fi ghting against organizations that have
millions of dollars and extensive connections on their side? Even if individuals
try to form new groups to advance certain policy goals, their battle against
well-entrenched groups does not seem like a fair fi ght. Moreover, despite the
proliferation of interest groups and lobbyists in America, some large groups of
like-minded Americans have no interest group fi ghting for their policy concerns.
Where, for example, are groups that lobby for what college students want? And
how can debates over policy be considered a fair fi ght when some groups are
unrepresented?
This chapter surveys the wide range of interest groups in American politics,
from large, powerful groups such as the National Rifl e Association (NRA) to
small organizations that lobby on issues that concern only a few Americans. In
part, our discussion will confi rm that confl icts over government policy are the
driving force behind interest group activities. For example, the NRA fi ghts to
maintain and extend Americans’ ability to own and carry fi rearms, while other
groups, such as Handgun Control, work to impose restrictions on these rights.
Government policy refl ects, at least in part, the actions taken by these different
groups.
However, interest groups are not only the tools of the rich and powerful.
Virtually all Americans belong to interest groups or have groups that lobby
on their behalf. And many of the clubs, groups, and organizations to which
Americans belong have little-known yet extensive lobbying arms. Moreover,
policy victories do not always go to the organization that spends the most money
or hires the most expensive talent. Groups can succeed by mobilizing their
members, forming alliances with other groups, becoming sources of political or
policy expertise, or using the courts to fi ght policy battles. Thus, although people
are correct to understand interest groups in terms of confl ict, they are wrong
in thinking that these groups invariably work against the interests of average
Americans. Moreover, interest groups often serve as a source of compromise in
the policy process, either in the proposals they offer or in their efforts to work
together with other groups.
This chapter also shows that evidence does not support many of the claims
about the vast infl uence of interest groups. In the case of TARP, for example,
some fi rms received relatively little in bailout funds even though they lobbied a
lot—General Motors (GM), for example, spent the most of any fi rm on lobbying
but received far less than the top TARP recipients. One bank, Wells Fargo,
spent only a tenth of what GM did on lobbying but received more than twice the
TARP allocation. Other fi rms, such as E*Trade, spent considerable amounts on
lobbying but were denied TARP funding.
In the end, the TARP example does not reveal that interest groups are all-
powerful in American politics. Rather, it shows how America’s political institutions
provide many opportunities for groups to infl uence policy making. Thus, while it
is surely wrong to say that interest groups are irrelevant—in many cases, their
efforts have an important impact on public policy—it is equally wrong to say that
they are the dominant force in the policy process.