Interest Groups and Lobbying

Interest groups are how organized citizens influence government between elections. Some call it democracy in action. Others call it legalized bribery.

What Interest Groups Do

Interest groups represent specific constituencies and advocate for policies affecting them. Unlike parties, they don’t run candidates. They work to influence whoever’s in power.

Functions:

• Represent member interests to government
• Provide information to policymakers
• Mobilize members for political action
• Monitor government and alert members to threats/opportunities

Types of Interest Groups

Economic Groups

Represent material interests:

Business groups: Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, industry trade associations. Generally favor deregulation, tax cuts, and free trade.

Labor unions: AFL-CIO, SEIU, teachers’ unions. Favor worker protections, minimum wage increases, and collective bargaining rights. Declining but still influential.

Professional associations: American Medical Association, American Bar Association. Protect professional interests and influence regulation of their fields.

Public Interest Groups

Claim to represent the broader public, not narrow material interests:

Environmental: Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Environmental Defense Fund.

Consumer: Consumer Reports, Public Citizen.

Good government: Common Cause, League of Women Voters.

These groups face a “free rider” problem: everyone benefits from cleaner air whether they contribute or not.

Single-Issue Groups

Focus intensely on one issue:

NRA: Gun rights. Powerful because members vote on this single issue.

Pro-life/Pro-choice groups: NARAL, National Right to Life Committee.

MADD: Drunk driving laws.

Single-issue groups are often the most intense and effective because their members care deeply about one thing.

Ideological Groups

Promote a broader political worldview:

Conservative: Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity.

Liberal: MoveOn, Center for American Progress.

These groups influence policy debate and provide intellectual infrastructure for the parties.

Lobbying

Direct contact with government officials to influence policy.

What Lobbyists Do

Information provision: Legislators don’t have time or expertise on every issue. Lobbyists provide research, data, and arguments. This information is biased but often useful.

Draft legislation: Many bills are literally written by interest groups. Legislators’ staffs don’t have capacity to draft everything from scratch.

Testify at hearings: Provide expert (and interested) perspectives.

Build relationships: Long-term access matters more than any single ask. Lobbyists cultivate relationships over years.

The Revolving Door

Officials leave government and become lobbyists. Lobbyists become officials. This “revolving door” raises concerns about capture: regulators favoring the industries they’ll later work for.

Some rules limit this (waiting periods before lobbying former colleagues), but the door keeps spinning.

Lobbying Regulation

The Lobbying Disclosure Act (1995) requires registration and reporting of lobbying activities. But definitions are narrow and enforcement is weak. Much influence activity doesn’t technically count as “lobbying.”

Iron Triangles and Issue Networks

Iron Triangles

A stable, mutually beneficial relationship among:

1. Interest group
2. Congressional committee
3. Executive agency

Example: Defense contractors + Armed Services Committee + Pentagon

Everyone benefits:

• Contractors get contracts
• Committee members get campaign donations and jobs for constituents
• The agency gets budget support

These relationships can be cozy and resistant to change. They insulate policy from broader public input.

Issue Networks

Looser, more fluid coalitions around policy areas. Include:

• Multiple interest groups
• Multiple committees
• Think tanks
• Academics
• Journalists

Issue networks are more open but also more chaotic. They’ve become more common as policy has grown more complex.

Money in Politics

PACs (Political Action Committees)

• Can donate directly to candidates
• Limit: $5,000 per candidate per election
• Must disclose donors

PACs are the traditional vehicle for interest group campaign involvement. Heavily regulated but transparent.

Super PACs

Created after Citizens United v. FEC (2010) and SpeechNow.org v. FEC:

• Cannot donate directly to candidates
• Cannot coordinate with candidates
• Can raise and spend unlimited amounts
• Must disclose donors

Citizens United: The Supreme Court held that independent expenditures by corporations and unions are protected speech. The government can’t limit how much they spend on elections, only require disclosure.

501(c)(4) “Dark Money” Groups

• Social welfare organizations
• Can engage in political activity (not their primary purpose)
• Do NOT have to disclose donors

This is where disclosure fails. Money flows through 501(c)(4)s to Super PACs, obscuring its origin.

The Money Flow

Billions of dollars flow through these channels every election cycle.

Social Movements

Broader than interest groups. Less formally organized. Seek fundamental change.

Characteristics

Outsider strategy: Movements often lack access to insider channels. They use protests, demonstrations, civil disobedience.

Broad goals: Not specific policy asks but societal transformation.

Decentralized: No single leader or organization controls the movement.

Notable Movements

Civil Rights Movement: Transformed American race relations through a combination of litigation, legislation, and direct action.

Tea Party: Emerged 2009-2010 opposing Obama’s policies. Influenced Republican Party toward harder-line conservatism.

Black Lives Matter: Police reform and racial justice. Decentralized, social media-driven.

#MeToo: Sexual harassment and assault. Changed norms and produced some policy changes.

Movement-to-Interest Group

Movements sometimes spawn interest groups that institutionalize their goals. The environmental movement produced the Sierra Club and EPA. The women’s movement produced NOW. The institutionalized groups have more staying power but less transformative ambition.

Effectiveness

What makes interest groups influential?

Resources: Money, staff, expertise.

Intensity: How much members care. NRA members vote on guns. Most people who support gun control don’t.

Information: Credible expertise helps. Policymakers need to know what will happen.

Access: Relationships with officials. The revolving door helps here.

Numbers: Large membership impressive but often less important than intensity.

The Takeaway

Interest groups channel citizen voice into government. They provide representation for organized interests. The question is whether they represent the public interest or just those with resources to organize.

Understanding interest groups means understanding:

• The different types and their strategies
• How lobbying actually works
• Iron triangles and issue networks
• The post-Citizens United campaign finance landscape
• The difference between movements and groups

Madison warned about “factions” in Federalist 10. He thought the cure was worse than the disease. Two centuries later, we’re still debating whether he was right.