Essay #10

Interest groups and political parties each play a huge role in the United States political system but they differentiate in their fundamental goals.In the political process, the fundamental goal of interest groups is to influence the public policy along with Congress and government officials. The fundamental goal of major political parties in the political process is to elect candidates that they like and want in office, and gain as much control as they can over the government. If they can gain control, it would make it so that more of their preferences are heard and established. 

Media campaigns are a good way that interest groups influence the political process. Media campaigns are a good way to get interest groups noticed and to get their most important problems attention. The more attention that a problem gets, the more likely the government is to fix it.

Political Action Committee's (PAC's) are another effective way for interest groups to influence the political process. Political Action Committee's give donations to campaigns and with the more money that they receive, they can put more towards certain issues that they want the government to change or act on.

Through media campaigns, interest groups are able to catch the attention of many people. Media campaigns also help influence policymakers. If media is covering an issue from an interest group then it clearly is important enough to gain media attention and then can catch a policymaker's attention which leads to interest groups influencing the decision making process which helps them get what they want in the end.