Discussion Board and Reply to Two Peers

Discussion Board and Reply to Two Peers

Discussion Overview

“Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”
–John Muir

Interest groups are non-profit, voluntary organizations that seek to affect public policy. Although there are a number of ways to classify interest groups, for the sake of simplicity we shall use this model:

  • Business/Labor/Professional Interest Groups: organizations that want to affect financial, public policy that benefits their members.
    • Examples: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Medical Association, and American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
  • Ideological Interest Groups: organizations that advocate public policy based on a set of beliefs.
    • Example: American Civil Liberties Union
  • Public Interest Groups: organizations that want to affect public policy that benefits not just the members but also society.
    • Example: Sierra Club
  • Single Issue Interest Groups: organizations that advocates one public policy concern.
    • Examples: Human Rights Campaign

Many if not most prominent interest groups form political action committees (PACs). PACs are interest groups that raise funds in order to contribute money on a political candidate and/or office holder. PACs are limited on how much money they can contribute. As of the 2019-2020 election cycle PACs can give each candidate and/or office holder $5000 (CRP, 2019.)

More information about PACs can be found the Center for Responsible Politics’s website.

An example of an interest group is Boeing Corporation. Boeing Corporation is a business interest group. According to the Center for Responsible Politics, Boeing “regularly lobbies Congress to win military contracts and increase defense spending. Boeing is a major supporter of free trade, especially in Asia, where it has focused on selling more planes. The company also lobbies on environmental rules and transportation regulations, among other issues. Boeing is also a large recipient of government loan-guarantees, primarily coming from the Export-Import Bank of the United States.” (CRP, 2019) During the 2017-2018 election cycle the Boeing interest group contributed $3,189,452 to candidates or office holders. This Center for Responsible Politics’s website lists all the candidates and/or office holders that received contributions from the Boeing interest group. In addition, this Center for Responsible Politics’s website lists all of the congressional bills the Boeing interest group advocated a public policy interest.

Directions: Using the required, academic readings, and supplemental academic research, please address the following while adhering to the Discussion Board Rubric:

  • Select a specific example of public policy from one of the following fields:
    • Economic policy
      • An example of economic policy is U.S. budget deficit spending.
    • Education policy
      • An example of education policy are the implementation of charter schools.
    • Environmental policy
      • An example of environmental policy is the Clean Air Act.
    • Foreign policy
      • An example of foreign policy is the interplay between civil liberties and the Patriot Act.
    • Healthcare policy
      • An example of healthcare policy is the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
    • Welfare policy
      • An example of welfare policy is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
  • Select an interest group that advocates public policy change within your example.
    • Explain the interest group’s mission statement or policy of purpose.
    • Explain the funding of the interest group.
    • Evaluate the interest group’s public policy engagement.
      • Provide an example of how this interest group affected public policy?
    • Would you join and actively participate within this organization? Why or why not?

References:

Boundless. (n.d.). Boundless Political Science. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-politi…

Data on Campaign Finance, Super PACs, Industries, and Lobbying. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.opensecrets.org/

Sarah Oliva posted Dec 12, 2020 4:53 PM

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Hi everyone,

I will be mentioning the topic of gun rights and how the National Rifle Association has made an impact on public policy. There has always been an argument between the U.S. keeping gun rights or limiting these by adding more gun control. The NRA was established in 1871 with a mission to promote rife shooting and the protection of our Second Amendment Freedom. They provide firearms educational programs and they fight against politicians, judges, and bureaucrats who want to take away this right (“NRA”, 2020). In 1903, they promoted shooting sports among the American youth, and the NRA Secretary urged the establishment of rifle clubs at all colleges, universities, and military academies. Today the NRA still takes importance in these programs, offering memberships to join the NRA, and providing knowledge about the use of guns and protection against gun violence.

This interest group gets its funding by donations, and their NRA store on their website where they sell shooting supplies and other items that are 100% supporting their programs. They also receive money from membership dues from Americans who join the NRA membership, and money from the gun industry (“NRA”, 2020). One lobbying technique the NRA uses to engage public policy is a separate organization to lobby for them, which is the Institute for Legislative Action. The ILA is the lobbying arm for the NRA and is in charge of the association’s PAC. The ILA has been very influential, stopping and passing many bills, impacting elections. They also spend large amounts of money spent on congressional committees. (Musa, 2016)

I would gladly join and participate in the National Rifle Association because I believe that our Second Amendment right should never be taken away from us and I like that the association is offering programs associated to gun use. People say that adding gun control to Americans will benefit us and decrease violence. However, if we are told we cannot own guns, what makes us believe that criminals and violators will listen then? I believe it is best that we can all hold on to our right for protecting ourselves against these offenders, because the crime will never stop, it will only get worse, which we have seen in 2020.

Thanks for reading.

References

National Rifle Association of America. (2020). National Rifle Association. NRA.ORG. https://home.nra.org/.

Raina Pape-Spencer posted Dec 12, 2020 4:28 PM

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The act I will be covering today will be the Animal Justice Project.

Explain the interest group’s mission statement or policy of purpose.

“ANIMAL JUSTICE PROJECT IS AN INTERNATIONAL, NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO THE ENDING OF ANIMAL EXPLOITATION. WE BELIEVE THAT NON-HUMAN ANIMALS DESERVE RIGHTS AND WE AIM TO BRING LIGHT TO THE REALITY OF ANIMAL EXPLOITATION THROUGH ADVOCACY, EDUCATION, OUTREACH, AND RESEARCH BY EXPOSING THE INJUSTICES THAT TAKE PLACE IN SOCIETY WITH REGARDS TO ANIMALS.” (ANIMAL JUSTICE PROJECT, 2020).

THERE WHOLE PURPOSE IS TO EDUCATE OTHERS OF THE MISTREATMENT THAT HAPPENS TO ANIMALS, SUCH AS EXPOSING FARMS WHO POORLY TREAT THEIR ANIMALS AND OTHER INSTANCES TO WHERE THEY HARM AND ABUSE ANIMALS, THEY EDUCATE ON WHY ANIMALS DESERVE THE BEST TREATMENT AND TO BE KEPT FROM HARM.

Explain the funding of the interest group.

The funding for this interest group is based on donations, on their home page it explains why they take donations and what those donations go to use for. They have set amount prices you can pick from and as well if you want to be a one time or reoccurring time.

Provide an example of how this interest group affected public policy?

When looking through their website to find information on how they have impacted public policy they have a full news section where they have links to different articles about what they are fighting against but as well what they are doing to help. They have many pledges and actions to change laws and policies to get things changed.

“Animal Justice Project has uncovered, as part of its ‘Deadly Doses: A Legal Low’ campaign, that universities across the UK are carrying out extensive studies on animals using recreational drugs. These cruel animal experiments reveal very little, if anything, about the harmful effects of recreational drugs in humans. The differences between, for example, a mouse and a human are simply too great, and include extremely obvious differences in anatomy, physiology and behaviour. Non-animal studies are undoubtedly the most accurate way of investigating the effects of recreational drug use in humans. Human volunteers can, and are, used to study the short-term effects of, for example, Class A drugs in controlled studies. Animals are even more unsuitable for studying the long-term effects of recreational drug use in humans” (Animal Justice Project, 2020).

Would you join and actively participate within this organization? Why or why not?

I would, I feel like they are doing well with educating the public with things that are currently happening to animals and show that they genuinely care. As well, keeping people update on what they are doing it and why.

Resources

Animal Justice Project, (2020). What is the Animal Justice Project? Retrieved from https://animaljusticeproject.com/about-us/

Animal Justice Project, (2020). Pledge Against Legal Lows. Retrieved from https://animaljusticeproject.com/pledge-against-le…

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