2014 AP U.S. Government:
Interest Group Mini-Research Project
After you complete your research on your assigned interest group, post your findings here no later than Friday, December 5. Students must read ALL posts and respond to the writing prompt provided no later than Friday, December 12.
16 comments:
The Airline Pilots Association, or ALPA, was founded in 1931 and is currently the largest airline pilot union in the world, representing over 51,000 pilots at 30 U.S and Canadian airlines.
The ALPA performs three services for its members: advocacy, representation, and airline safety and security. The ALPA prides itself with discovering and championing safety improvement in the industry. The ALPA provides pilots with financial analysis and legal expertise to defend pilot contracts. Also, the ALPA represents pilots' views to all decision makers, such as Congress and Federal agencies.
The ALPA concentrates on four main issues. The group advocates for the instillation of second barriers, or reinforced cockpit doors. The group also favors the presence of an armed guard within the cockpit. The ALPA believes it is wrong to tax employer provided health care plans. They unequivocally support The Safe Skies Act to prevent pilot fatigue.
There are solidary and material incentives to join this interest group. The ALPA connects pilots from all over the country and gives them the opportunity to associate with members of their profession. The ALPA also provides it's members with Loss of License and Lump Sum Disability Protection insurance plans. Also, The ALPA provides member pilots and their families with an emergency relief fund. This fund covers medical expenses and provides temporary housing in the face of large-scale calamities.
The National Education Association (NEA) is the nation's largest professional employee organization. This specific organization assists the cause of public education. There are a grand total of 3.2 million members that work at every level of education.
Their vision is "A great public school for every student." "Our mission is to advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world."
In 1857, one hundred educators joined to unite as one voice in the cause of public education. One hundred fifty years later all children can enjoy the luxury to learn. The NEA is made up of teachers, education support, professionals, higher education faculty and staff, retirees, student program, substitute educators, administrators, and National Council of Urban Education Associations (NCUEA). The NCUEA is a local affiliate of the NEA thatmakes the NEA more responsive to member needs.
The NEA's top five issues are Common Core State Standards, School Safety, No Child Left Behind Act, Education Funding, and Raise Your Hand for Public Education. The NEA includes material incetives, those include the following: finances, insurance, travel, discounts, professional resources, and benefits. You can nly join the NEA if you are a public school teacher, faculty member, education support professional, retiree, or a student preparing to be a teacher; the NEA and its state and local affiliates have a place for you in the organization.
The NEA state affiliates regularly lobby legislators for the resources schools need, campaign for higher professional standards for the teaching profession, and file against legal actions to protect academic freedom and the rights of school employees.
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, or AFL-CIO, represents unionized workers. The AFL-CIO was a confederation of AFL and CIO, and each of AFL and CIO was a federation of unions. AFL was formed in May 1886, and CIO was formed in 1928. Together the AFL-CIO represents 12.5 million working people.
The AFL-CIO tries to ensure a future of decent paychecks and benefits, good working environment, and fair treatment. The AFL-CIO are interested on solving unemployment crisis, improving wages, working environment, and health care(they favored Affordable Care Act), ensure retirement security and education for future generation, and favoring immigration reform.
Being a member of AFL-CIO, the AFL-CIO offers some material incentive such as the access to scholarships(Union Plus Scholarship and Dreams of Jobs and Freedom Scholarship), discounted services, and many Union Plus benefits. They also provide solidary incentive, pathways to get involved, local organizations, and a sense of unity and solidarity.
The AFL-CIO endorses mainly Democrat candidates and rarely endorses Republican candidates.
Extension:
From the strike in 1700s for better payment to unionized workers sought for reduction of working hours, working people realized the importance of togetherness and the utility of being together. As their slogan says, "We are stronger together." The AFL-CIO appeals to the working people in not only America but also workers abroad. The AFL-CIO advocates the voice of workers about their pay, working conditions, and benefits. Through the process of collective bargaining, AFL-CIO and their members negotiate with the employers to determine the term of contract. Yet because of the collective bargaining, the employers express their hatred toward unions and dislike unionized workers.
Jessica Riis:
The Snack Food Association was founded in 1937, and represents about 400 companies. The Snack Food Association is committed to the growth and success of the international snack food industry. The issues the group is interested in are promoting increased snack food consumption, and providing a positive voice to the national, local, and trade media. The Snack Food Association is also best known for sponsoring one of the largest snack food industry and trade shows, Snaxpo being one the well-known trade shows. Snaxpo helps companies to show off their products, and get their name out in the market. The material incentive is that the Snack Food Association will help the companies, who are associate with them, with getting their names out, helping them to stay up-to-date with safety regulations, and being a voice for the snack food industry in politics. Also the Snack Food Association helps the companies by giving them a wide array of educational opportunities, from seminars with the best speakers to sponsorship for research at leading universities.
Carrie Kesecker
The American Bar Association (ABA) represents U.S. licensed lawyers, non U.S. licensed lawyers, law students in ABA accredited law schools, students enrolled in higher-education studies, and no lawyers such as paralegals, and economists. According to the ABA's website the ABA has nearly 400,000 members. When a lawyer passes their first bar they are automatically enrolled for a free year. Also, many law firms enroll employees, and many law schools provide membership to their facility and students. The ABA is one of the world’s largest voluntary professional associations.
The Group is interested in supporting the legal profession with practical resources for legal professionals while improving the administration of justice, accrediting law schools, and establishing model ethic codes. The American Bar Association was established on August 28,1878 in Saratoga Springs, New York by 75 lawyers from 20 states and the District of Columbia.
The ABA provides numerous services for their members. The ABA provides free CLE (continuing legal education) series, resources on ethics and professionalism, and subscriptions to numerous legal publicans and literature. The ABA also provides insurance discounts through Liberty Mutual, help on getting a job, discounts on travel services such as airfare and hotels. The ABA also gives it's members discounts on Mercedes cars and Lenovo computers.
There are many incentives for joining the American Bar Association. There are the most material incentives for example, the the discounts on insurance and travel. There are also purposive incentives for joining the ABA, they fight for advocacy of the law and to protect the lawyers rights. Solidary incentives are also present in the ABA, they hold regular events all over the Untied States where members of the ABA can come together and learn about or discuss the law.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a Special interest group mostly made up of: Conservatives, sporting shooters, Hunters, and other gun owners. Some important celebrities (in my opinion) that are part of the NRA are: Chuck Norris, Ted Nugent, and Whoopi Goldberg. I looked up on both Wikipedia and NRA.org to see how many members there were and I got the numbers 4.5 million and over 5 million. The NRA's biggest issues are: Gun rights for law abiding citizens, Gun safety awareness, Hunting, and Protection of the 2nd Amendment.
The NRA was founded on November 17, 1871, today is December 4, 2014, therefore the NRA has been in existence for 143 years and 17 days.
Some services and programs that the NRA provides for it's members are: Refuse To Be A Victim, Eddie Eagle GunSafe, NRA Members-Only Discounts, and MRA Legal support. The Refuse To Be A Victim Program is about people learning personal safety tips and techniques that you can use incase you are ever in a dangerous situation. The Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program is for children in Pre-K through third grade. Their mascot teaches the children four easy to remember steps if they ever see a gun by itself: "STOP!, Don't Touch, Leave the area, Tell an adult." The Program has reached out to 26 million children in all of the 50 states but does not encourage or support them to become NRA members or gun owners.
In the state of West Virginia there are 20 places that offer discounts to NRA members, including J&S Arms L.L.C right here in Berkeley Springs.
NRA-ILA (National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action) can provide general advice regarding laws and regulations affecting gun owners, however; their attorneys are prohibited by the ethical restraints of their bar license(s) from providing specific legal advice. Also, their attorneys are prohibited from discussing legal issues with individuals already represented by counsel, but may assist council with research and advice.
NRA Hunting Programs have offered a variety of activities to over 13.7 million hunters in the U.S.
NRA Grassroots Alert: "Vol. 21, No. 46 11/21/14" "Federal Investigations to Proceed on Operation Choke Point."..."As we reported last month a coalition of congressional representatives led by Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer had requested internal investigators at the DOJ and the FDIC to conduct formal inquiries into Operation Choke Point, as well as any officials and staff involved in the program. Republican Luetkemeyer is now reporting that those requests have been granted. According to his press release announcing the decisions, "The correspondence I received from the FCIC and DOJ is a great first step in ensuring that those responsible for Operation Choke Point are held accountable and that Congress and the American people receive details and answers they deserve.""
Hunting Programs is a type of solidarity incentives and it is a very successful one because it gets a lot of hunters together to talk about gun safety. When hunters go to these programs they feel a sense of belonging because everyone there loves hunting, so they all will in time most likely join the NRA if they are not already a member. A type of Material Incentive that the NRA has is discounts for their members. Anywhere you go in the country there will be a store or maybe even a restaurant that will give you a discount for being a NRA member. The last Incentive, Purposive Incentive is the one that the NRA seems to reach out to the people the most with, and that is they are all about protecting American's 2nd Amendment Rights. So when gun owners, hunters, conservatives, and pro-2nd Amendment sees the NRA's position and will join the NRA.
Tiffany Youngblood
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the largest and most influential grassroots environmental group. It was founded in 1892 by John Muir and in its 122 years of existence, it has gained 2.4 million supporters and members. It has 64 chapters in the USA and it also reaches to Canada. The SIerra Club’s mission statement is as follows: “ To explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth; To practice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources; To educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means to carry out these objectives.”
Sierra Club has several main issues. They focus heavily on land management, nuclear issues, renewables & energy efficiency, waste management, and wildlife conservation. In their 122 years, they have accomplished a lot for an interest group. They help protect millions of acres of wilderness, established several national parks, and helped pass the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. They deploy grassroot networking and lobbying.
Members that join this interest group will receive several material incentives. This includes Sierra Club awards (photography categories, work with youth, volunteer recognition, etc.), discounts on Sierra Club merchandise, Sierra Magazine and newsletter, and worldwide outing programs. The only purposive incentive (and probably the most gratifying) is the satisfaction of helping preserve wildlife and wildlands.
Ashley Campbell
The American Medical Association (AMA) was established in 1847 by a man named Nathan Smith Davis. It has members ranging from medical students to anyone in the medical field. The group has 224,503 as of the end of 2012. You must be into medicine in one way or another to be a member. Also if you are a physician you can choose to pay any one of these Annual regular membership - $420 Second year in practice - $315 First year in practice - $210 Fully retired (0 hours per week) - $84 students can have a single year membership for $20. A few of the issues for the AMA are medical student debt. They want to lower the cost. Also they want everyone to have access to good health care and truth to advertising. They want the advertising to be completely honest with you in what they are trying to say will help you. When you sign up some of the services here are some of the services. Build your knowledge and keep it current. Full access to AMA publications. Share your perspective and make a difference. Get involved in the work that matters your profession. Gain expert support to help you with your practice and your career. Enjoy special savings on insurance, financial services, medical supplies, travel and more. The group however does not give away form of solidary incentives
Matthew Tarallo
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is our nation's guardian of our rights and liberty. The ACLU was founded by Roger Baldwin, Crystal Eastman, and Albert DeSilvers in 1920. The ACLU defends all people who's rights were abused. The most important rights they defend are the First Amendment rights, your right to equal protection under the law, your right to due process, and your right to privacy.
The ACLU also works to extend rights to segments of our population that have traditionally been denied their rights; including people of color, women, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgenders, prisoners, and people with disabilities. There are currently 500,000 members and supporters who play an active roll in defending freedom. It has nearly 200 staff attorneys, thousands of volunteer attorneys and offices throughout the nation.
The ACLU talks about nationwide problems such as the Ferguson, Missouri incident; privacy; and secret phone tracking. Their key issues are defending targets of discrimination, keeping America safe and free, and protecting civil liberties in the digital age. They have participated in more Supreme Court cases than any other private organization. They win far more cases than they lose. The ACLU was involved in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954, protecting internet free speech in 1997, protecting the Right to Privacy in 2009, and helping LGBT Americans serve openly in 2010. They also have many famous advocates to add to their success. Such as Al Pacino, Martin Sheen, Wendie Malick, Hector Elizondo, Kristin Davis, Kurt Vennegut, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jake Gyllenhaal. And the ACLU doesn't provide any services to its members.
The American Farm Bureau Association (AFBA) was founded in 1919 by John Barron. It is a voluntary organization governed by Bob Stallman, president, as well as representatives of farm and ranch families. The AFBA mainly focuses on the interests of farmers, espically in regard to new technology, and education improvements. They also support renewable fuels, E-Verify, immigration reform, and biotechnology. There are currently over six million members in the AFBA. Insurance is provided to members, acting as both a service and a material incentive.
- Robyn
Josh Turner
The Dairy Farmers of America, or DFA, is a agricultural interest group/cooperative created in 1998 with the intentions of helping dairy farmers in the U.S. market their raw milk as well as getting their voice heard in national policy-making. 16,000 dairy farmers in over 9,000 farms are served by the DFA. Primarily a cooperative, the DFA is an industrial employer and offers many different types of benefits to those whom it hires, such as health insurance, vacation time, tuition reimbursement, and 401(k)s. Members of the group receive annual earnings based on their production for the cooperative, a guaranteed market and competitive price for their milk, and equal representation in the group's business decisions and outreaches to legislative powers because the group is grassroots-based.
The AARP, formerly know as the American Association of Retired Persons, is currently one of the largest membership organizations in the United States. Founded in 1958, it has over 37 million members (from April, 2014). Their motto is "To serve, not to be served". AARP's mission is to protect social security, long-term health care, and retirement planning. The members have to meet the requirement of being at least age fifty for full membership benefits. You can join under age fifty if you are already retired, but you will not get full membership benefits. This group provided members with lobbying such as hosting a high-level salon-style conversation, and grassroots lobbying to push "Divided We Fail. AARP also offers legal service from All-State and an annual media road show. The incentives of the AARP are material incentives. They provide members with health, home, dental, auto, and life insurance, travel benefits, discounts for movies, stores, etc. They also offer financial planning and help. This group is mainly directed towards retired people or people fifty years or older.
Public Citizen, an interest group "Protecting Health, Safety, and Democracy," was founded in 1971 by Ralph Nader.The group represents consumers and other individuals who want to make sure every citizen is represented, not just big corporations. There are over 300,000 members of this group all fighting to ensure every American is heard. They favor an open government whose leaders are not influenced by money. Along with an open government, they want strong government regulation, especially when it comes to transportation, healthcare, and nuclear power. They have five policy groups: a Congress Watch division, an Energy Program, Global Trade Watch, a Health Research Group, and a Litigation Group. Their main focus is to try to limit the power big corporations have on American democracy. They take citizens who want to make a difference and organize them in ways that get the government's attention in hopes of changing the way American democracy is now run. The incentives are mainly purposive; Public Citizen members want their opinions heard.
Kendall White
The National Association of Broadcasters, is an interest group for broadcasters, such as people who run radio broadcasts or TV broadcasts. They have been around since 1922. Their issues focus on improving or protecting the ability for people to broadcast. Such as with protecting TV viewiers and allowing broadcasters to continue negotiation in free market. They also want to expand broadcasting ability, by doing things like adding radio broadcast chips to phones. They provide several services for their members, such as access to NAB labs, for testing of new tech for broadcasting, and PSAs to keep stations informed on important social and health concerns, which can help with production costs. They have several material incentives for joining. These include several insurance discounts for Axis Pro, AmWINs, and Agility Recovery Solutions. They also will give discoujts on exhibit space at NAB events. They also get discounts on frequently bought items at office, a discount on overnight shipping from UPS, and. discount on car rentals.
Patrick Lucky McNair
Post a Comment