Interest Group

Interest Group is defined as "an organized body of individuals who try to influence public policy." This system is designed so that interest groups would be an instrument of public influence on politics to create changes, but would not threaten the government much.
Interest groups play many different roles in the political system, such as representation, participation, education, and program monitoring. Representation is the function that we see most often and the function we automatically think of when we think of interest groups. Participation is another role that interest groups play in our government, which is when they facilitate and encourage the participation of their members in the political process. Interest groups also educate, by trying to inform both public officials and the public at large about matters of importance to them. Lobby groups also keep track of how programs are working in the field and try to persuade government to take action when problems become evident when they monitor programs. The traditional interest groups have been organized around some form of economic cause, be it corporate interests, associates, or unions. The number of business oriented lobbies has grown since the 1960s and continues to grow. 

Interest groups are large numbers of citizens who join together to advance a common interest or goal. They attempt to advance their cause by targeting national level policy making institution. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is one of the largest and strongest interest groups in the United States. According to its mission statement, it is "a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people age 50 and over ... dedicated to enhancing quality of life for all as we age," which "provides a wide range of unique benefits, special products, and services for our members." They often focus their attention of the legislative body. Congress is easily targeted because they are elected officials who are expected to meet the needs of their constituents. The number of older Americans that participate in elections by voting is much higher than that of any other age group. This makes them a powerful force when dealing with their representatives. They can the threat of the vote when bargaining for their needs and wants most representatives with the desire for reelection would not want to go against the large body of the AARP.

The AARP is a successful interest group because so many elderly receive large amount of discretionary funds. This enables the AARP to develop a powerful political action committee with the strength of a wealthy political action committee. The group can provide monetary support for those who agree to further their cause while at the same time withhold funds from those who do not the power the money is the power to influence.  The AARP can influence congress with its power of the purse. The AARP also has the ability to put a lot of time into their campaigning of congress for their needs. Retired people often have large amounts of free time fuels with this time the members can focus on grassroots campaigning. They can write letters and make phone calls at enormously high rates. In addition to the letters and calls, retired people’s time can also be spent on trips to speak directly with their congressmen and women or their staffs. Through this kind of commitment changes can be made because the message has reached the legislators.

Through high voter turnout, the use of discretionary funds to create political action committees and the use of time for grassroots campaigning of important issues. The AARP has earned the nicknames the “Gray panthers” and become one of the most successful interest group in the U.S. Most legislators would not want to go against their groups objectives if they wanted to remain in office. For these reasons the AARP has been extremely successful in meeting its policy objectives. This can be clearly seen in the recent attention that has been given to social security and health care reform by congress.