Representation of Interests
Michelle Williams
POL/443
May 29, 2011
Professor Miranda Jackson

Representation of Interests
It is my belief that different individuals lead their life with different interests and these interests are always in flux as policy changes affect them. The interest groups that I support are sometimes quiet large and then it becomes difficult to identify with the group as an individual person. That is why the supporters have to put some sort of trust in the groups as a whole. It may even happen that supporters may not fully understand what benefits they are going to get after funding and supporting the group. We know that Amnesty International works to stop torture at all countries. We may not see the influence of their literature through bare eyes. But we have seen that sometimes governments had to change their policies due to the specific influence of Amnesty International for some particular cases. Amnesty International, 2011 report states that the Indian Supreme court decreed the recognition of right to food as the country’s basic human right. So the government has to take steps to stop people from starving and all this happened as Amnesty International took initiative there.
My interest groups are fully lawful as they are run in lawful manners and they also send petitions to important individuals in the government. It is true that these groups follow such less thrilling means rather than depending on protests for change. Reaching the lawmakers and influential people are more important I think. Sometimes we can see that people have gathered in protests in front of some organizations but they fail to get any results. It can be seen that the special interest groups sometimes have some targets that may seem conflicting. For example, I myself want peace everywhere in the world but at the same time I also believe in the right of having arms. The interesting fact is I may support in this case the Americans for Peace Now group that advocates non propagation of arms and at the same time I can also support the American Civil Liberties Union. These two groups have conflicting ideals. If I support groups with conflicting ideals, I may become less productive. This is a predicament, we cannot find a panacea as no groups can accommodate interest of all groups. This may be a situation for democratic practice. In such systems everyone has their voice and so there are conflicts among different interests.
I have some interests that do not go with the public interests. I have interest in conservationism but defining this interest is quite complex as I do not think the way many others might think. I have some perspectives about climate change and deforestation that are talked about by many interest groups that I can fully agree with as they do not conduct adequate research in these areas to come to some type of conclusion. They may be good at making propaganda but I rely more on research facts. I have found that sometimes these groups present statistics that are not the facts. For example, saying that everyday thousands of earth species are getting extinct is not what they should say without correct statistics. If this were the case, we would have seen animals lying dead every day all over the world. Some groups with same interest may feel perplexed and with handling odd situations as some other groups present unreliable data. We might think that rights activist that protect animals should be in line with environmentalists but they can often be seen in opposition to each other. Take the example of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) that does not believe that commercial farming is necessary while conservationists believe in commercial farming of animals. When there is extravagant statistics without research problem arises. One group thinks that humans can lead their life by being dependent only on vegetable cultivation. This is the core of debates and oppositions between the two groups.
As I find issues like this one quite contentious, I cannot help but say that I need to question some ideas to test them with reasonable curiosity. I think that the future special interest groups will have to be more unbiased to have support from people. Some interest groups advocate the interests that are similar to mine and yet I cannot some of these groups as they seem to be quite narrow minded going to the state of fanaticism. Greenpeace International sometimes goes to this point. When I went through their literature, I felt as if I was becoming the member of a new green religion. That is why I am in the situation to assert that special interest groups should foster nourishing debates and encourage analytical thinking.

References:
Amnesty International. (2011). Historic steps to ensure international justice. Retrieved from http://thereport.amnesty.org/facts-andfigures
Advocacy Groups. (2011). Political advocacy groups a directory of United States lobbyists. Retrieved from http://pag.vancouver.wsu.edu/peacewar.html