GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
Federal agencies are organizations that are part of the government set up to perform certain special functions such as management of the environment. They enforce laws and regulations that are set up by Congress regarding the areas within their jurisdiction. After bill a bill is passed in Congress and signed into law by the president, the agencies are given discretionary authority in that the bureaucrats choose the course of action and make policies not spelled out in advance by the laws. Acting within the framework of the law, the agencies decide how they will enforce the rules because, in this way, they are independent. Discretionary power ensures the agencies are accountable for every action they take, and it helps in coming up with the best ideas it can to enforce the laws (Hupe, 2013).
The agencies through this power can excise authority and deliver their duties well because they have the ability and authority to exercise that law and citizens are obligated to obey the law. Congress does not have the expertise needed to run the various agencies, and it is also time-consuming to come up with policies used to run the agencies. Giving them discretionary power ensures that within the frames of the law, bureaucrats can come up with strategies that can enhance service delivery and goal achievement. The agencies are given the power because they were created to manage specific areas of the broader government and because Congress cannot manage to oversee all these areas at a go. An example is a role played by EPA in reducing pollution levels. The agencies are given this power because, without it, the agencies cannot fix problems that need a different approach and perspective. It also puts Congress in a position of checking and balancing the organizations and cut funding or replace members in organizations that are not productive because that should be their purpose.
Social media has a footprint all over the world, and it is accessed by anyone who has internet and a smartphone or computer. Interest groups are people to influence public policy with an unlimited number of issues (Binderkrantz, 2012). Every society in each country has an interest group that uses social media in shaping people to rally in implementation or removal of something they feel is oppressive. The influence of social media is in its numbers and the ability to mobilize a lot of people with ease and with minimal time. Members of interest groups are also able to communicate and organize demonstrations and meetings wherever they are because of the geographical mobility of social media.
Political parties lose popularity because even though they have policies that interest people, those elected to power end up not delivering on their promises and others steal from the electorate (Berger, 2017). The parties also elect their leaders and it’s not somewhere anyone would go to air their views openly and the leadership is not open either. Interest groups are a free book affair where anyone can blow the whistle on any issue and advocate without reprisal and are very useful due to the numbers and dedication they have. Social media has enhanced its growth because it is worldwide, and they can receive support from other groups. A political party that exists in one country is not that which exist in another, and this reduces their audience to that particular country.
The iron triangle is a word used to explain the interplay between Congress, interest groups, and government organizations (Petracca, 2018.). It can result in situations where the interests of citizens neglected due to reasons such as corruption and the advancement of personal interests. An example of such an issue is arms control, where lobby groups advocate for more measures to be put on guns to control their use due to the rising number of gun-related shootings in America (Spitzer, 2015). Nothing much was done to address this issue because the NRA blocked gun control measures, and Congress did little about it. It is due to the amount of funding that the NRA has given to most of them in their political ambitions making most of them play down the issue.
The interest group that was advocating for gun control was doing so because of the many shootings being reported in America, and they advocated for measures to be taken in controlling the issuance of guns through the running of background checks. Congress is the lawmaker supposed to act on the issue, but it is downplaying because of the influence The National Rifle Association. The interplay between these groups where the other does not want to fulfill the interests of another group because they lean towards the other group for reasons known to them depicts a clear example of the iron trial angle. Even though a subject might be of interest to many people, their wish cannot always be fulfilled sometimes by those they expect to because of reasons they know best.
Citations
Petracca, M. P. (2018). The rediscovery of interest group politics. In The politics of interests (pp. 3-31). Routledge.
Berger, A. A. (2017). Political parties: A sociological study of the oligarchical tendencies of modern democracy. Routledge.
Spitzer, R. J. (2015). Politics of gun control. Routledge.
Hupe, P. (2013). Dimensions of discretion: Specifying the object of street-level bureaucracy research. Der moderne staat–dms: Zeitschrift für Public Policy, Recht und Management, 6(2).
Binderkrantz, A. S. (2012). Interest groups in the media: Bias and diversity over time. European Journal of Political Research, 51(1), 117-139.