Overview: Interest groups have a long history in this nation. They have played a vital role in connecting Americans to their government and providing citizens with mechanisms for communicating their concerns and goals to their elected leaders. At the same time, many people view interest groups as having a negative impact on our political process.

The authors of Living Democracy raise the following questions: “Do interest groups represent ordinary people who would otherwise be powerless? Or do they drown out the voices of ordinary people in favor of special interests?” (Living Democracy, 527). This assignment is intended to help you answer this questions.

View our completed analysis here.

Purpose

• To analyze interest groups using the criteria established by the authors of Living Democracy.
• To evaluate the role of interest groups in our political system

Interest Groups–choose your group (3 each + 1 group of 4; choose your interest group)

• AARP: http://www.aarp.org

• Recording Artists Coalition: http://www.recordingartistscoalition.com
  

• League of United Latin American Citizens: http://www.lulac.org

• National Organization for Women: http://www.now.org

• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP): http://www.naacp.org

• Rock the Vote: http://www.rockthevote.org

• Gun Owners of America: http://www.gunowners.org

• Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence: http://www.handguncontrol.org

• Coalition to Stop Gun Violence: http://www.csgv.org

• Feminist Majority Foundation: http://www.feminist.org

• United States Chamber of Commerce: http://www.uschamber.com

• Moveon.org:
  Download

• Sierra Club: http://www.sierraclub.org

• National Rifle Association: http://www.nra.org

• Working with your group, create a handout for your classmates on your interest group. Use the following questions to guide your analysis. You will be posting your handout on our wiki so that your classmates can benefit from your work. However, you are free to design your handout in Word. Try uploading it to Google Docs when you are done. Invite me as a collaborator (ccsark@gmail.com). Click here for the wiki pages.

• Use the web sites provided on the class blog (scroll down the home page) to locate necessary information.

• Please do not cut and paste directly from the Internet into your notes.

Lagniappe

• If you finish early, design a one page advertorial for the interest group. Review the description of advertorials in Living Democracy, p. 523.

• When was the interest group formed?

• What type of interest group is it?

• Does the interest group have a distinct ideological

• How does the interest group try to attract members? What does it offer? (refer to p.511 – 512 for correct terms)

• What is the goal(s) of your interest group?

• What pathways does the interest group use to achieve its goals? (refer to p.515 – 525 for correct terms)
  • Consider: inside lobbying, outside lobbying, grassroots mobilization, use of media—both traditional media and new media, use of technology
  • Provide specific examples

• What successes has the interest group enjoyed?

• How does the interest group use money to achieve its objectives? How much money has the interest group donated in recent presidential and congressional elections and to whom?
  • Use this web site (OpenSecrets.org) to answer this question: http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/index.asp

• How much influence and/or power do you think the interest group wields? Rate the group on a scale of 1 – 10.

Assessment: This assignment is worth 40 points.

An “A” handout on the interest group

• will reflect your nuanced understanding of the material presented in Living Democracy
• will demonstrate your careful evaluation of the interest group based on the information presented on its website
• will fully but concisely address the questions and provide effective examples
• will be expressed in your own words
• will be free of GUM errors

A “B” handout on the interest group

• will reflect your understanding of most of the material presented in Living Democracy
• will demonstrate your evaluation of the interest group; however this evaluation may be relatively simple
• will fully answer the questions though lack organization in place and provide a few examples
• will be expressed in your own words
• will have some GUM errors

A “C” handout on the interest group

• will reflect some understanding of the material presented in Living Democracy
• will demonstrate your cursory evaluation of the interest group based on the information presented on its website.
• will answer the questions but omit some key information and provide few examples
• will be expressed in your own words
• will have too many GUM errors