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Interest Groups: Crash Course Government and Politics #42

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Interest groups are criticized on several counts. The potential "bad" side of interest groups are all too apparent. 1. Some interest groups have influence far out of proportion. 2. Sometimes it's hard to tell how many people and what people are actually in an interest groups. 3. Many groups do not in fact represent the views of all the people. 4. Some groups use tactics that undermines the whole political system.

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Those events and issues that concern the people at large, for example; politics, public issues, and the making of making of public policies.

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They stimulate interest. Interest groups raise concern for certain issues and promote policies they are in favor of. Second, they represent their members on the basis of geography. Third, organized interests often provide useful, specialized, and detailed information to government. Fourth, interest groups are vehicles for political participation. Fifth, interest groups add another element to the check-and-balances feature of the political process. Finally, interest groups regularly compete with another in the public arena.

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In 1787 James Madison warned the nation against "factions". He believed that they were inevitable and he was opposed to any sort of attempt to abolish them. You cannot eliminate peoples' freedom. Alexis de Tocqueville was impressed by the amount of organizations. To determine whether interest groups are good or bad you must weigh the functions of the group and the various criticisms of them.