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Interest groups help stimulate interest in public affairs.
- Public affairs are those issues and events that concern the people at the large.
- Interest groups raise awareness of public affairs mostly by developing and promoting those policies they favor and by opposing those policies they see as threats to their interests.

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- Alexis de Tocqueville was deeply impressed by the vast number of organizations he found in the United States.
- Tocqueville was a Frenchman who toured much of his county in the early 1830's.

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Many people have long viewed interests groups with deep suspicions. James Madison had warned the new nation against the dangers of  what he called "factions."
- Madison thought that factions were inevitable i human society, and he was opposed to any kind of attempt to abolish them.

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Interests groups exist to shape public policy, they also operate the policies that are made and that can be influenced.
- Interests groups also give themselves a variety of labels; leagues, clubs, federations, committees, unions, associations, and so on.

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- Parties nominate candidates for republic office and interest groups don't.
- Interest groups try to affect the outcomes of primaries and other nominating contests.
- Political parties is interested in winning elections and controlling government.

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- Interest groups are made up of people who unite for some political purpose.
- There are two types of political parties which are the Republican and Democratic Parties.
- They differ in three different ways.
1. In the making of nominations
2. In their primary focus
3. In the scope of their interests

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- Organized efforts to protect group interests are fundamental part of the democratic process.
- Interest groups are sometimes called "pressure groups and often "special interests" or "organized interests."