The Similarities Between Political Parties And Interest Groups In The United States

In the 1830s, a famous French writer, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that the “principle of association” can fit very well on the United States of America. This observation about the American politics still exists. In this particular essay, I will be discussing about interest groups and why do they bring pressure to all three branches of government? According to our textbook, an interest group- also called a “faction”, “pressure group”, “special interest”, “organized interest”, or “lobbying group”- can be defined as any organization that actively seeks to influence public policy. There are some similarities between interest groups and political parties but they do differ in many important ways. As textbook describes, interest groups have a linkage mechanism: they serve to connect citizens with government whereas, political parties address a board range of issues and try to win elections. In simple words an …show more content…
Our textbook mainly divides the interest- group system into two groups- Economic Groups and Citizens’ Groups. Economic groups are more fully or efficiently organized and it is mainly consisting of corporations, labor unions, farm group- to make profits, provide jobs, protect an occupation whereas, citizens’ groups don’t have the same organizational advantages as economic groups.

Money is a key element in inside-lobbying efforts. Lobbyists try to influence official working in all three branches. Interest groups spend millions of dollar a year to lobby members of congress. The benefits of a close relationship with Congress is very crucial for a lot of economic or non-economic groups. Most of the time they need congress support to get the legislative help in order to achieve its