To What Extent Do Pressure Groups Help Or Hinder Democracy in the US

To what extent do pressure groups help or hinder democracy in the US?

Pressure group activity has always proven to be significantly influential in US politics, when compared to a nation like Britain. We may have interest groups such as Fathers for Justice making the news in the UK but organizations such as these are not constitutionally entrenched and protected as they are in America. The First Amendment from the Bill of Rights, 1791, states that citizens have the right ‘to petition for a redress of grievances’. This means that interest groups, ranging from the NRA to the NAACP, all share the same right to promote their issues to the executive and to lobby congress.

This idea of all Americans sharing the right to fight for their cause and address if to their government is a very democratic ideal. An example of how this has protected minority interests in America is the work done by the NAACP, whose name lays out their fundamental goal – to campaign for the advancement of coloured people. Their achievements ranging from the Brown vs Board of Topeka case in 1954, which helped remove the prejudicial ‘Jim Crow’ laws that forced blacks and whites to go to separate schools to the march on Washington in 1963 helped promote racial equality in America. Without pressure groups like the NAACP campaigning for the rights of marginalized groups such as African Americans underpin the true principals of democracy in terms of equality and freedom.

Teacher comment;

This is a fluent start to an essay. Positive features of this introduction and first paragraph include;

· Reference to the constitution – what gives pressure groups power

· Examples in the introduction – NAACP, F4J (a little ‘textbook’ but ok)

· Comparison to the UK – key words, ‘entrenched’

· Specific examples in the first paragraph which are then fully evaluated, while linking to the key concepts of democracy.