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Originally posted by Spanky
Any group that is organized around a self serving issue or set of issues. A good indicator is if they have hired a lobbyist. Examples. They place the interest of the group above the welfare of the country as a whole.
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At your average state legislature, you describe everyone in the room.
The urge to blame "special interests," from both sides of the aisle, is a pet peeve for me. There are people and groups on both sides of most issues. Whichever side wins, we denegrate as a "special interest."
The truth is, at the state legislature level anyway, that these lobbyists are often the only people that know anything about the issue at hand - the part-time legislators surely don't. Most are there because they believe in the issue for which they advocate, or at least their employers do. Believe it or not, they can actually believe that what they want is in the overrall "best interest" of the country as a whole.
Let me give you an example. When I was in college, a group of fellow student, whom I joined toward the end, spent a lot of their personal time lobbying the state legislature for a change that would benefit student (it cost nothing). The whole thing was handled without any budget, and with only the effort of less than a dozen students.
Were we one of your dreaded "special interest groups?" Were the faculty members who ultimately thwarted our efforts?
For the most part, there is an interest group on every side. With only very few exceptions, it is simplistic of us to dismiss any legislative decision as only the result of the pressure from "special interests" (mostly because we only have this complaint when we disagree).
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The united ice cream makers association: wants higher tariffs on imported ice cream and lower tariffs on mild, cream and whatever else the use to make their product.
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What about the People for Ice Cream Choice? Are they a special interest as well?
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Classic special interest groups:
1) Telecom industry
2) Corporate agricultural interests
3) Unions: want to keep their members jobs even it sacrifices other jobs from being created or reducing prices for the american consumer
4) Trial lawyers
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You really just think these people are evil? You think they don't sincerely believe that its important to we create good (i.e. union) jobs, and not dead-end, low-wage service industry jobs? Or that its in the counrty's best interest to protect injured victims instead of negligent businesses? Is your test really anything other than group with whom you disagree?
