Another type of organization that influences the political process is advocacy groups. Advocacy groups represent the interests of groups of people and organizations and through donations to specific political campaigns they directly influence the outcome of elections and in turn the composition of our representative democratic government. Too often though the interests of the private sector coupled with their monetary resources unfairly influence the political process. More recently though the composition of different representative groups such as labor unions or manufacturing guilds has become more elite and less inclusive. "more contemporary interest groups are centralized, professional advocacy groups as opposed to mass membership organizations."(2)
On a smaller scale social movements brought on by tragedy or social injustice can inspire politically neutral individuals to take up a cause and work to change public opinion and in turn the political process. One example is when in the 1960's the blatant lack of regulations pertaining to the conservation of natural resources and the spoiling of the natural state of our country fueled the Environmental movement. "The early environmental movement included conservationists who wanted the country's natural resources to be managed efficiently by the government and preservationists who wanted to retain the land in its natural state.".(1)
The cartoon depicts the tea party express which is representative of the recent conservative movement many individuals have become apart of. They endorse and promote legislation that would limit government spending and limited taxation on a federal level.
It is an example of a movement that I ideologically agree with. I try to forget Mrs. Palin is a prominent member though.
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