Interest groups are organized by citizens to influence the government and shape the policy agenda. Discuss whether interest groups magnify the power of individuals to influence government and public policy, or if they are used as a tool to exclude regular people in favor of wealthy elites. Do you believe the influence of interest groups has a positive or negative impact on the election process?
An interest group that is determined to encourage or prevent changes in public policy without trying to be elected, I choose the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). They are the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization dating back to 1909 when it was established in New York City by an interracial group of activists. The founders consisted of white and black activists, consist of Mary White Ovington, Henry Moskowitz, and W.E.B Du Bois. The NAACP challenged the law and won a legal victory in 1915 when the U.S Supreme Court ruled in Guinn v. United States that grandfather clauses were unconstitutional. Their biggest pivotal role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, their key victories was the U.S Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education that outlawed segregation in public schools. Including the successful lobbying of the landmark legislation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and the Voting Right Act of 1965, barring racial discrimination in voting. I believe that interest groups do have a positive influence on the election because of the history with landmark changes to better protect its citizens. In 2009, the year the first black President was elected, President Barack Obama spoke at a celebration of the NAACP's 100th anniversary.
Reference
Historv.com Editors. (2021, January 25). NAACP. HISTORY. Retrieved October 18
2022, from https://www.history.com/topics/civil-rights-movement/naac