Interest Groups: The New Deal, Civil Rights Movement

There exists an inherent struggle to push environmental policy to the forefront of the political spectrum. This is where interest groups become so vital. With interest groups being capable of unifying behind one common identity, there becomes a chance for political upheaval and renewal. As McFarland discusses the theory of interest group known as critical pluralism, it is evident that interest groups overcoming the issue of collective action, business power, and social movements is indeed possible, but necessitates the accompanying political realignment reminiscent of the New Deal, Civil Rights Movement, or the Vietnam War (McFarland 265). Assuming that we are now in a current political realignment, policy changes in areas like the economy,
As it stands now, economic policy revolves such topics as taxation, budgets, and the labor market. Economic policy often targets inflation and unemployment as well as attempting to stimulate economic growth. However, with interests being targeted towards improving the environment, economic policy would need to intertwine, or even supplant, economic growth with economic sustainability efforts. One way such policies may be affected is with taxation. In addition to the current taxation system, it is possible to imagine interest groups lobbying on behalf of the carbon tax, or a general vehicle tax, or advocating for policy changes that tax companies for pollution or subsidizing companies for their green efforts. There are several alterations to the tax code that an environmental interest group could see fit to make; however, these are just a few. Moreover, as demonstrated by the film Carbon Nation, environmental efforts can be used to increase the labor market. Lobbying on behalf of the environment for economic policy change, would do one thing that Americans always seem to call for, increase jobs. It would seem that if the environment were to be the central organizing principle of society, then economic policy would be overhauled, but such changes would not just drastically change the lives of Americans, but could, in fact, improve people’s
Although Americans like to think themselves better and more economically stable, there is still a great need for public housing within the United States. If these developments were to be constructed with the concerns of the environment in mind, then the developments would not only be environmentally-friendly, but they would most likely be cost efficient. In Carbon Nation, there was an emphasis on renovating the Empire State Building using greener, cleaner methods. Although such techniques may be more expensive at first, those in charge of the projects were more than aware that the costs of such environmentally friendly efforts would pay for themselves. If these methods were to be used in public housing, then more developments could be built, and the cost of operating such housing would also