Interest Groups and Diversity – Does Government Work?

Congress’ issue of lack of diversity and coupled with interests groups power and influence in getting bills passed allows discriminatory laws to be enacted despite the extensive process it goes through to become a law. Although only a member of Congress can introduce a bill, often bills are drawn up by interest groups. Additionally, minority groups are highly underrepresented in the chambers of Congress, more so in the Senate than the House of Representatives. Diversity is important because it presents different viewpoints as people from different backgrounds have different lived experiences, however a homogenous population of white men can not understand issues affecting minority communities fully because they are not minorities.

Specifically, The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a corporation that drafts bills that are typically conservative and that serve the interest of the private sector. Alec is responsible for Stand Your Ground Laws, Three Strikes Laws, Voter ID laws and other tough immigration laws, promoted bills to deregulate laws enacted by the Environmental Protection Agency and were strong supporters of the Keystone Pipeline. ALEC is a collection of federal and state legislators that allows leaders of the private sector to discuss legislation. There are over 2,000 state legislators aligned with ALEC. This in my opinion is highly problematic as members of the legislature are supposed to represent the masses and advocate for them not for corporate or promote the interests of the private sector.

Diversity in Congress would not prevent members of Congress from partnering with interests groups however it would bring a voice to the table that is not currently present. Currently, there are only two African American senators, Latinos, and Asian Americans have historically had even less representatives. I don’t think that interest groups are inherently bad, however it is the job of congress members not lobbyists to draft bills therefore I do not think that they should be allowed to align with any interest groups. Rather address issues that their constituents believe are important. One way I think this can be combated is by raising the level of diversity in Congress.

https://billmoyers.com/content/interactive-map-is-your-state-legislator-a-member-of-alec/

David Shaw says:

April 10, 2018 at 1:30 pm

Hi Jennifer,

This is a good topic and very worth in depth exploration, especially as The American Legislative Exchange Council remains mostly unknown to the general American public. You do a good job covering what ALEC is and what its flaws are, but one area where you could expand is how your proposed improvements would change anything. Yes, it is true that many view the minority underrepresentation in ALEC as a bad thing, but why is it bad and what changes would be seen if the group were more diverse? Finding the answers to these questions would greatly enhance your point and significantly increase the strength of the piece overall.

Katherine Breed says:

April 12, 2018 at 12:54 pm

Jennifer,

Thank you for your post I think you bring up an interesting argument. I agree with you that Congress still has ways to go in becoming for diverse in order to have a more well-rounded representation of Americans people. However, Congress aligning with interest groups is what will bring the diversity to the table that you mention. Interest groups represent various opinions and people in America. They get a greater and more detailed understand of specific thoughts and actions that need or want to be taken. I think interest groups can benefit Congress because they have given more representation of the whole American population. If you don’t have interest groups working with Congress what would be another way to represent various people’s opinions and desires? I think interest groups and Congress go hand in hand because Congress has to work off of what is being put forth by those groups. Thank you for your post I really enjoyed it!

Michael De La Cruz says:

April 12, 2018 at 1:40 pm

Hey Jennifer, this is a great post.

Diversity is something we talk about a lot in my leadership class, and I think it would be interesting to parallel leadership discussions with political science discussions. I agree that our governmental institution should be more diverse. I think the diversity in congress should be proportional to the diversity found in the Untied States. Lack of diversity in our government is detrimental because it affects the productivity of legislators, something that can be reflected in the gridlock of our legislative system, and because lack of diversity means that there are not as many perspectives offered to a certain problem, so the efficient outcome might not be reached.

What cannot happen to our society is to try to overcompensate for the lack of diversity by forcing our society to integrate more. This could lead to backlash and cause people to be pushed to either extreme this issue. If we get that, then all the progress that we have made will be counteracted and we would have to restart.