Interest Groups

An interest group is a group of people acting together in support of a common interest or to voice a common concern and change the public policy.  One such group is the AARP, or American Association of Retired Persons. The AARP is a large senior citizen membership group which influences the public policy.  This group supports many issues, which include health care and financial security, and it achieves these by lobbying the government on all levels. The AARP is a large Civil Rights Group which supports many issues that have later lead to passed laws.

The AARP is part of the Civil Rights Group and has many ways of achieving its goals in persuading the public policy to conform to their interests.  The goal of this non profit organization for Americans fifty and older is to provide a wide range of benefits, special products, and services to its members.  Their best approach to achieving their goals is by lobbying the government to agree on their opinions.  An additional way the AARP helps its members is by selling insurance, investment funds and other financial products to them.

The AARP interest group is one of the largest groups in the United States and they receive large amounts of funding.  There are about thirty eight million members that belong to the AARP.  This interest group has ten times as many members as the National Rifle Association has.  The only group that surpasses the AARP in number of members is the Roman Catholic Church.  The funding of the AARP is over one billion dollars and it spends about twenty three million on lobbying.  This funding is five times as much as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  The AARP is also the country’s largest business association.

Many laws have been passed due to the AARP’s influence, and they are currently involved in several current activities.  The AARP is currently involved in selling insurance to help those in need of health care.  This interest group helped influence the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, and they made Congress resist changing the Social Security.  The AARP is planning on changing their health care issues close to the 2008 elections.

The AARP is a very strong interest group which influences the government on all levels to change the public policy to meet the needs of its members.  This interest group is involved in many activities and has influenced many acts, and helped influence Congress to not change other things.  It is one of the largest groups in the country and receives funds of over one billion dollars.  The members of this group have to be fifty years of age or older and the goals of this group are typically reached due to its power in numbers and governmental influence.