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Interest Groups in American Politics of Lobbying
In American politics, interest groups tend to influence the government with either of two strategies, which comprise the inside and the outside game. The former involves attempts made at coaxing officials of the government via direct internal contact, which is simply defined as lobbying. In a narrower sense though, lobbying describes reimbursed activities within which interest groups fight for particular legislations in decision-making entities. The use of this strategy by the respective cohorts is dependent on the interests that they seek to attain when in contact with government officials. These interests notably comprise economic, cause, non-associational, public, and private institutional, and cause-based interests. However, among these, economic interests tend to be thoroughly focused on within American politics. Economic interest groups usually pressure or persuade government officials such as Congresspersons or state officials into applying or reversing legislations that may benefit them financially. The strategy by Trinity Industries in the state of Texas is a compelling illustration of an economic interest group model dependent on lobbying. Apparently, representatives from the organization have engaged in considerable lobbying due to the claims imposed on them concerning their guardrail system. The allegations assert that the highway guardrail framework developed by Trinity possesses a safety error (Lipton and Ivory para. 3). Therefore, in order to avert such claims, the organization has extended its lobbying to the state’s attorneys general, who possess the legal authority to inspect and potentially sue the organization (Lipton and Ivory para. 9). The intense lobbying by Trinity Industries represents an interest group model based specifically on the gratification of economic interests. Overall, the involvement of interest groups shows the extent to which American politics is convoluted. With cohorts such as those of Trinity Industries lobbying against the allegations made against their product, it is impossible to refute the significance that interest groups impose on American politics.
Work Cited
Lipton, Eric, and Danielle Ivory. “Troubled Guardrail Maker Goes on a Lobbying Blitz.” The New York Times. 12 Feb. 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/business/troubled-guardrail-maker-goes-on-a-lobbying-blitz.html?ref=topics&_r=0/>