PAC and Interest groups have long been connected to the political system and the electoral system. This partnership has led to many questions being raised about the integrity of these groups and their motives when it comes to elections. PACs and Interest Groups consist of groups that create policy and pool money to finance the campaigns of different politicians including Representatives, Senators, and even the President. The responsibility of these groups to get certain officials elected has caused problems with corruption and greed when large amounts of money are involved. This raises another question, are Interest groups and PACs beneficial to our American political system or are they detrimental? 

Political action committees or PACs and Interest groups often consist of multinational corporations but also includes groups such as The National Home Builders Association. These groups and many others are included and they give large sums of money to politicians. In the 2016 presidential election Super PACs were tied to every single candidate including Jill stein and Gary Johnson (Tice). This means that is is nearly impossible to run for office without the support of at least one Interest group or PAC. In turn this gives Interest groups and PACs incredible power over policy. Because of the modern system of elections money is more important than ever as shown in the 2016 election that broke the record for most money spent on an election. In all there was around 5 billion dollars spent in the 2016 election which doubled the money spent on the 2012 presidential race (NY Times). This is not only confined to presidential races as there was nearly 3 billion dollars spent by interest groups and PACs on congressional races. With all this money being raised and spent on acquiring votes it becomes very difficult to keep politicians and the Interest groups that support them from becoming corrupt. This could mean politicians becoming less interested in the interest of their constituents and becoming more interested in the policy’s of PACs. On the other hand, it is very beneficial for groups who don’t have a voice in politics to be able to create an Interest group or PAC to increase their influence on issues that they support. Minority groups like The National Association for Advancement of Colored People and the American Jewish Committee are both examples of minority groups who have successfully created influential PACs (Farrer). Another way that Interest groups are important is that they are the primary Policy shapers for the government. 

Policy shaping is a very important job in the American political system and this responsibility falls to Interest groups and PACs. This means that PACs and Interest groups are able to push their ideas for laws and changes in government and are the primary source of ideas for new bills and laws (Gable). This is somewhat troubling as it means that large corporations and interest groups are the main source of our policy creation in the United States. Money allows this to happen as earlier stated it is nearly impossible to win an election as a politician without the support and financial backing of an Interest Group. Interest groups will not support a candidate that does not support their values or policies. This results in a ultimatum for politicians who must chose weather they want to succumb to the policies that they may not completely agree with to win a election. This can lead to groups pushing policy that is unwanted by the majority but benefit large business or the rich. Most people would agree that the United States is meant to be a country ruled by the people for the people. This system is the opposite of a Oligarchy where the rich rule and the poor have no political voice. Oligarchy’s are a system from ancient Greece not fit to rule a society as advanced as ours. This being said it is easy to see how the use of Interest groups as policy shapers can quickly divulge into a Oligarchy where the rich have the most powerful voice drowning out all others with their wealth. 