Understanding Special Interest Politics

11. Politicians have an incentive to ensure that government money is spent in their home state. Thus, when legislators are negotiating over whether to support a piece of legislation, they commonly ask each other to include _______________________.

a. logrolling

b. pork-barrel spending

1. _____________________ are groups that are small in number relative to the nation, but quite well organized and focused on a specific issue.

a. Influentials

b. Special interest groups

c. Wealthy individuals

2. One can relate the problem of special interests in politics relating to an environmental issue. This problem is called _______________. 

a. regulatory oversight

b. regulatory capture

3. In legislative bodies and agencies that write laws and regulations about how much corporations will pay in taxes, or instructions on how to satisfy environmental regulations, the specific industry affected has _______________ who keep an eye on every legislative detail pertaining to their interests.

a. lobbyists

b. influentials

c. public policy experts

4. What is it called when special interest groups try to influence public officials?

a. Vetoing

b. Voting

c. Polling

d. Lobbying

5. Political interest groups play their largest role in shaping legislation by

6. Which of these lobbying groups currently (as per the most recent data) holds the top spot as the nation’s most influential lobby?

7. Grassroots lobbying is best defined as ______________.

8. In order to be effective in influencing government policy,  interest groups require:

a. Access to media outlets

b. A large number of members

c. Money and expertise

9. A number of economic policies produce gains whose beneficiaries are easily identifiable, but costs that are partly or entirely shared by a large number who remain anonymous. True or False.

a. True

b. False

10. A number of economic policies produce gains whose beneficiaries are easily identifiable, but costs that are partly or entirely shared by a large number who remain anonymous. Some of these include:

a. Policy of rent control

b. Policies that block imports

c. all of these

12. Pork-barrel spending is another case in which democracy is challenged by concentrated benefits and widely dispersed costs. True or False.

a. False

b. True

13. pork-barrel spending can be encouraged by logrolling. True or False.

a. True

b. False

14. As a reflection of this interest of legislators in their own districts, the U.S. government has typically spread out it's spending on military bases and weapons programs to congressional districts all across the country. This is meant to avoid the pitfalls of logrolling and pork-barrel spending. True or False.

a. True

b. False

15. Specific tax breaks and spending programs also have identifiable winners and impose costs on others who are hard to identify. True or False.

a. False

b. True