The Interest Group Process

The interest group process provides direct support for the policy preferences of elites. Interest groups are organizations that seek to influence government policy—to obtain special benefits, subsidies, privileges, and protections—for their sponsors. They are financed by, and responsible to, the same corporate, banking, financial, professional, legal, media, and civic institutions that compose the national elite.

Washington is a labyrinth of special interest organizations—business, profes­sional, and trade associations; lawyers and law firms; representatives of large corporations; lobbyists and consultants; public and governmental relations firms; and political action committees (see chapter 5). Their lobbying activities are as varied as the imagination of the lobbyists themselves. "Opening doors," estab­lishing personal contacts, "rubbing elbows," and partying and "schmoozing" with government officials are designed to gain access—"just a chance to talk." Lobby­ing goes well beyond testifying at congressional hearings, contacting government officials, presenting technical information and reports, keeping informed about bills, and following the "ins and outs" of the legislative process. It includes "grass­roots" mobilization of campaign contributors and voters back home, as well as public relations activities designed to develop and maintain a favorable climate of opinion in the nation.

But most important, the special-interest process includes the distribution of campaign funds to elected officials. Campaign contributions from interest groups go overwhelmingly to incumbent officeholders. Vote buying, of course, is ille­gal. Experienced lobbyists avoid offering a campaign contribution in exchange for a specific favor. But experienced legislators know what to do to keep the campaign contributions flowing.

The Opinion Making Process

The nation's media elites play a dual role in top-down policymaking. The lead­ership of the mass media is itself a key component of the nations elite, equal in power to top corporate, banking, insurance, investment, and government elites. But the media elites also perform the crucial function of communicating elite views to government decision makers and to the American public. The media's principal source of power is in communicating the policy agenda—telling elected officials what problems or issues they must address, and telling their mass audi­ences what should concern them. The mass media is not always successful in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling them what to think about.

Media power is highly concentrated in the leading television networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN) and the prestigious national press (New York Times, Wash­ington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time, U.S. News & World Report).

Media empires are emerging (Viacom, Walt Disney, Time-Warner, etc.) that extend their control from television networks, newspapers, and magazines, to motion pictures, recorded music, sports, and entertainment (see chapter 6).