Money and Special Interest Groups

Paper Summary:

Money and special interest groups play an important role in the U.S. Congress. Due to the high cost of running a campaign two assumptions are regularly made, namely that money can buy votes and that those groups or businesses that have contributed funds, will be favourably treated by their candidate when forming legislation. This paper critically analyses those assumptions by examining key examples such as the influence of the tobacco industry and by examining esteemed political analyst views. The paper is divided and analysed on two distinct lines. Firstly, whether or not money and special interests can get a candidate elected and secondly whether money and special interest groups can have influence and to what degree, over the way in which elected candidates vote on legislation.

From the Paper:

"The influence of money in the US Congress therefore begins with the election of members to the Congress. In order to increase their chances of election, candidates run extensive campaigns which include: television and newspaper advertisements, public appearances, pamphlets, door knocking and many other methods to gain voter support. In recent decades these election expenses have grown more than 300% faster than the cost of living . The average cost of a Lower House campaign has risen to more than US$500,000 and a Senate campaign to US$4.5 million . Due to these exorbitant campaign cost very few people in lower socio-economic groups run for Congress as they neither have the funds themselves nor are they likely to have contacts with big businesses to financially support their campaign. "

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