1. Groups provide a key link between people and government. All legitimate interests in teh political system can get a hearing from government once they are organized.

2. Groups compete. Labor, business, farmers, consumers, enviromentalists, and other interests constantly make competing claims on the government.

3. No one group is likely to become too dominant. When one group throws its weight around too much, its opponents are likely to intensify their organization and thus restore balance to the system. For every action, there is a reaction.

4. Groups usually play by the "rules of the game". In the United States, group politics is a fair fight, with few groups lying, cheating, stealing, or engaging in violence to get their way.

5. Groups weak in one resource can use another. Big business may have money on its side, but labor has numbers. All legitimate groups are able to affect public policy by one means or another.

1) Lobbying is open to all and is therefore not to be regarded as a problem.

2) Even honest lobbying is a problem, because it benefits few at the expense of many.

3) With so many more interest groups to satisify, and with many of them competing aginst one another, a cozy relationship between groups and the government is plainly more difficult to sustain.

1) One-third of top institutional positions are occupied by people who hold more than one such position. They see the rise of mighty multinational corporations as further tightening the control of corporate elities. An example would be the bailouts the government gives to big businesses.

Assertions:

1 - The fact that there are numerous groups proves nothing because groups are extremely unequal in power.

2 - Awesome power is held by the largest corporations.

3 - The power of a few is fortified by an extensive system of interlocking directorates.

4 - Other groups may win many minor policy battles, but corporate elites prevail when it comes to the big decision.

1) It is a perfect script for policy gridlock, as no change is essentially made in the end.

2) Groups have become too powerful in the political process as government tries to appease every conceivable interest.

3) Interest group liberalism is aggravated by numerous subgovernments--comfortable relationships among a government agency, the interest group it deals with, and congressional subcommittees.

4) Trying to please every group results in contradictory and confusing policy.

(NOTE: Morris Fiorina is a hyperpluralist.)

What is interest group liberalism?

It refers to the government's excessive deference to groups. Interest group liberalism holds that virutally all pressure group demands are legitimate and that the job of the government is to advance them all.

Subgovernments are known as iron triangles. They are composed of - key interest group leaders interest in policy X, the government agency in charge of administering policy X, and hte members of congressional committees and subcommittees handling policy X.

Also: comfortable relationships among a government agecny, the interest group it deals with, and congressional subcommittees.

1. National Rifle Association

2. National Association of Manufacturers

3. National Association of Realtors

4. Chamber of Commerce

5. AFL-CIO

6. American Association of Retired Persons

7. American Medical Association

8. American Hospital Association

9. International Brotherhood of Teamsters

10. Motion Picture Association of America

11. Recording Industry

12. American Farm Bureau Federation

13. American Bankers Association

14. National Governors' Association

15. National Right to Life Committee

16. National Association of Homebuilders

17. National Federation of Independent Business

18. American Israel Public Affairs Committee

19. Association of Trial Lawyers of America

20. National Beer Wholesalers Association

Criteria for determining whether an organization or firm shoulder register their employees as lobbyists.

1) They are an important source of information. Members of Congress have to concern themselves with many policy areas; lobbyists can confine themselves to only one areas and can thus provide specialized expertise.

2) They can help politicians with political strategy for getting legislation through. L

3) THey can help formulate campaign strategy and get the group's members behind a politician's reelection campaign.

4) They are source of ideas and innovation.

Note: Lobbying works best on people already committeed to the lobbyist's policy position.

- Cultivate a good public image to build a reservoir of goodwill with the public

- Use marketing strategies to infleunce public opinion of the group and its issues

- Advertise to motivate and inform the public about an issue