POLS210 APUS American Government Special Interest Groups Forum Replies

In need of a 150 response/discussion to EACH of the following forum posts. There are (3) different Forum posts. Agreement/disagreement/and/or continuing the discussion. Original forums discussion/topic post is as follows:

Do not get sidetracked in discussions about the issue they support. Stay focused on their tactics and methods.

Forum Post 1:

Hello Class,

Welcome to the final week of this course. This week we discussed the existence of special interest groups and how they can have an influence over lawmakers in congress as well as the President of the United States. There is a large number of special interest groups in this country that represent people all over the country when looking at societal or political issues in the country. They can have a large influence over lawmakers by doing things like lobbying or trying to persuade them one way or another by disseminating large amounts of information on a particular issue. They can also have a large impact in the Presidential office by endorsing Presidential candidates or helping to fund their political campaigns in order to assist a candidate with their like interests and values get into office to push their agenda. The issue I chose for this week is abortion which has been in the media constantly this year, specifically with many states trying to ban abortion or pass heartbeat bills. One of the most well known special interest groups for this issue is Americans United for Life. This group has been working hand in hand with lawmakers to supply a long list of model legislatures to chose from to then adapt them to their states to try to pass as a law. They publish a playbook that comes out with new editions called “Defending Life” to aid in guiding lawmakers with said model legislation and research behind them. Somewhere around 30 bills pass across the country based on the model legislation from this playbook, sometimes with assistance from the group’s attorneys. Due to this process, it takes much of the work out of it for legislators because they do not have to do the research or actually write the bills themselves. This also helps to ensure the group’s desires and agenda are having the impact they wanted it to.

NAME

Ryman, Anne, and Matt Wynn. “For Anti-Abortion Activists, Success of ‘Heartbeat’ Bills Was 10 Years in the Making.” Abortion Laws 2019: How ‘Heartbeat’ Bills Passed Ohio, Missouri, More, Arizona Republic, 20 June 2019, www.azcentral.com/in-depth/news/local/arizona/2019/06/19/abortion-laws-2019-how-heartbeat-bills-passed-ohio-missouri-more/1270870001/.

Forum Post 2:

Hello Class,

The Center for Education for Education Reform is an interest group dedicated to improving the quality of education for students kinder through 12th grade. On September 18, 2019, an amicus brief was filed with the Supreme Court. If you recall, an amicus brief is a document stating the reasons why the court should rule in favor of one side. The amicus brief was filed in favor of Espinoza in Espinoza vs Montana Department of Revenue. To explain simply, the case is looking at the constitutionality of an amendment in Montana’s laws regarding the use of government funds on private scholarships for children attending religiously affiliated charter schools. They believe this amendment is “denying parents the ability to direct the education of their children”

As stated, their tactic in gaining favor in the court rulings is an amicus brief. This tactic may be helpful because it allows the judiciary to see all viewpoints and every angle in order to make a more informed decision.

Center for Education Reform. Amicus Brief Filed in Most Important Education Case in Decades. (18 Sep 2019). Retrieved from https://edreform.com/2019/09/amicus-brief-filed-in-most-important-education-case-in-decades/

Professor response:

Ray

An amicus brief is filed by someone who isn’t part of the suit and offers information about the case. It is often called a “friend of the court” brief because it is providing information.

Dr. K

Forum Post 3:

For my interest group, I have choose to look at the issue of immigration as a whole, and chose to look at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, otherwise known as FAIRUS. They are a group that believes in a strong border, and interior enforcement. The group on there website shows to be in favor of trump and his laws, showing there support by using social media, showing there support on social media. They also show how much the number of illegal immigrants has increased over time. They also show there support to president Trump by having a full article showing what trump and his administration has done for the topic of immigration. On there website, they also show how much the average american pays for illegal immigrants as well. The organization has also appeared on numerous radio shows, which not only would be heard on the radio, but is also shared on there twitter account as well, making there social media print even bigger. Social media within itself will show there message, shows, commercials etc to millions across the nation, after all the overwhelming majority of people with smart phones either have, or have had social media in some way or another, whether it be twitter, facebook, instagram etc.

The group has been attacking the issue of illegal immigration for years, and based on a murder in 2002 that was carried out by an illegal immigrant. While this murder happened many years ago, the wording of which they write the bit of information on there website, it invokes anger, sadness, fear and etc in the people that would read there articles. The group in itself has been under attack being labeled a hate group by some, whether they are right or wrong is currently here nor there, but clearly we see they now days use the power of the internet and social media to promote there messages, invoking human emotions with there ads.

https://www.fairus.org/about-fair/our-impact

Textbook

American Government: Chapters 9-10, 14 can be used a reference

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