AP Government Blog Post

Excerpt from More Than Money by Richard Skinner

Vocabulary Words: 1. PAC (Political Action Committee): A group that advocates for a specific candidate in a political election and directs monetary contributions from individuals to that candidate. a. In 2012, the Sierra Club spent $315,950 from its PAC on contributions to President Obamas political campaign because he supports environmental protection. 2. 527 Groups: Groups that advocate and contribute money for specific issues and endorse political candidates (although they are not supposed to be openly supporting and contributing to specific parties or candidates). a. Interest groups such as the National Rifle Association are similar to 527 Groups in that they both advocate for a specific cause (such as the right to own firearms); however, interest groups can openly support political candidates and encourage their members and other voters to side with them. 3. Political Parties: Organizations that have similar interests for the government of the US; their goals are to win elections and control the government. a. Planned Parenthood often supports Democratic candidates in political elections as this party tends to favor womens rights to abortion. If the candidates that they support win elections, then they can write legislation to support the causes of Planned Parenthood.

Summary: Skinner outlines the functions and political significance of interest groups in this excerpt from More than Money. He described the different types of expertise (such as issue credibility), emphasized the importance of credibility, and explained the methods used by interest groups in raising support for issues. He also stressed how major groups have spent years building the publics trust (at least, until Teddy Roosevelt came around and busted it - lol! Sorry.) and their own credibility to sway voters. The article goes in depth on how groups carefully target and contact potential voters (with a level of caution determined by the sensitivity of the issue) as well as how they influence politicians to make decisions that support their causes. Skinner spends the last part of this excerpt explaining the increasingly strong link between major interest groups and political parties, which complement each other in the networks they form. Evaluation: I thought that this was a comprehensive article in that it explained several different functions of interest groups using many various examples from a broad range of topics, from the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League to the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. He even included examples within examples, which further elaborated on his points. However, I was a little confused by the structure of the article. Skinner started off by emphasizing his main point that there is more to interest groups than money; expertise is needed for interest groups to be influential, and credibility built over a long period of time is very powerful. However, he then began explaining with great detail how interest groups targeted and contacted potential voters and supporters. He actually went very in depth when it came to

describing thiswhether thats a positive or a negative depends on the reader. If she/he wants to know exactly how some groups contact voters and what type of people they contact, then this article would be very informative. However, if he/she is more concerned about the link between interest groups and political parties, then 2 of the 4 pages of this article would not have directly enlightened him/her. Personally, I thought that it was helpful to know how much effort is put into drawing support from voters (after all, a large support group is one of the three crucial factors needed for interest groups to succeed) but some of the information seemed rather unnecessary and repetitive. It also initially confused me on what his main point in this article was. However, despite Skinners drifting from place to place within the excerpt, it still provided a lot of helpful knowledge to anyone trying to understand the workings of an interest group and how it affects politics. He provided an outlook for the future of interest groups: as Americans continue to polarize around political parties, major interest groups will continue to strengthen their ties to their respective political parties and help them in the race for government control. Therefore, Skinner asks that people reconsider their definitions of political parties; interest groups are so influential in the network of parties that they should be considered at the same level of significance as parties. I agree with this concept because by having large masses of people supporting them, as well as thousands of dollars in contributions, interest groups can determine elections and determine politicians decisions.