American Federal Government - Essay Sample

An interest group is any individuals or organizations’ association organized in one or several shared concerns, trying to influence public strategy in its favor. All interest clusters share a yearning to influence government policy for their causes or their benefits. They try to attain their goals through causing pressure to tolerate policymakers to acquire policy results in their favor. There are various interest groups in the United State, and this paper discusses the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) interest group.

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The motto or slogan for ACLU is because freedom can’t protect itself (American Civil Liberties Union). Their mission is to preserve as well as defend the individual’s rights plus liberties promised to every individual in the nation by the laws and Constitutions of the U.S. various things are done by this group. First, it protects and preserve the first amendments rights, rights to privacy, and ensures equal defense under the law. Furthermore, it concentrates on extending rights to clusters traditionally denied them, where it does this by community education and outreach, litigation, and legislation.

Some of the issues that ACLU fights to include immigration rights (American Civil Liberties Union). When the government denies legal rights along with the due process to any vulnerable group, the rights of every person are at risk. The Immigrants Rights Project for ACLU focuses on enforcing and expanding the civil rights and civil liberties for immigrants plus combating private and public discrimination against them. Using targeted public, advocacy, and litigation outreach, this group protects the liberties and rights of immigrants. For above 25 years, the group has been concentrating with all major legal scuffle on behalf of the rights of immigrants concentering on challenging laws, which deny them access to courts, discriminate against them depending on their nationality, and impose mandatory and indefinite detention.

ACLU also fights for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, plus transgender people (LGBTQ). Currently, the ACLU group brings several LGBTQ cases plus advocacy imitates compared to other national organization groups (American Civil Liberties Union). The group is concerned with protecting the rights of these people because they face discrimination, and sometimes, they are denied their rights in the nation. ACLU is also concerned with protecting productivity rights. According to their argument, a woman has a right to have an abortion or have a baby, and this should be a deeply individual decision left for the woman to decide. However, the decision should be based on the woman, her family, and the doctor, yet, some politicians are obsessed with interfering. ACLU protects such rights in the United State and argues that women should be left to decide what to do in such a situation.

In America, ACLU has done various things for the last nine decades (American Civil Liberties Union). They managed to protect free speech for children. The group won a major victory in Supreme Court on behalf of students in public schools suspended for being in black armbands while protesting for the Vietnam War. They have also managed to fight for Japanese Americans’ Internment. The group stood alone to condemn the federal internment for the government of above 11000 Japanese Americans occupying camps during WWII. Other accomplishments include protecting reproductive rights, protecting free speech on the internet, keeping Americans free and safe to the current moments, and exposing torture since 2003.

The American Civil Liberties Union takes action because one has a few minutes to act on something (American Civil Liberties Union). The group members believe that currently, the hard-fought public protection years are under threat. To influence lawmakers, they need to involve every person in action and achieve this by preparing the slaves. The members request the leaders to embrace clemency being the main pathway to redemption. They are also convinced that from letter-writing revelries to protest for attending a meeting for the city council and organizing an event remains an easy method to bring people together to take action as well as advocate for a relevant issue in the community.

Members of ACLU enjoy several benefits, such as protection of personal freedom. The personal decisions for every member of the group are protected, and they feel free to do anything. Some of the freedom they have includes freedom of worship, who to love, and deciding on whether to have or not to have children. Furthermore, they manage to stand on their principles. Sometimes, this is not possible for every person because some principles that an individual may be having; may be against the law. When one decides to stick to some of the principles, he is likely to go against the law and faces the consequences later. However, the principles for every member of ACLU are protected, and they are free to act according to them.

ACLU has a store where people can buy merchandise (American Civil Liberties Union). In this case, I would by a T-Shirt written my rights to vote to know that nobody should protect me from voting for any leader that I want or punish me for going against the decision he has for voting.

Yes, I can sign up for the newsletter because it provides their details and their interests weekly, hence keeping one informed of their progress. After subscribing to their weekly newsletter, one receives assemblies of the essential civil liberties and civil rights developments every week and the sharpest political and legal analysis from the activists, organizers, and lawyers who fight for people’s rights every day.

ACLU has over 1.5 million members, almost 300 staff attorneys, several offices in the entire nation, and several volunteer attorneys (American Civil Liberties Union). Membership is open to every person in the Denver University law school community supporting the mission of the group. The rest of the people should be above eighteen years and support the team and support their mission. The group houses its headquarters in the city of New York and has several locally based associates established into 50 chapters, one per state, but California has to chapters. To join ACLU, one can do it online, through their telephone number, or by delivering a check to the Membership Department of the group. The minimum payment is five dollars to stay signed up to receive emails from ACLU to stay informed plus act on protecting people’s rights.

Since ACLU has several positions, they hire people who meet the qualifications for the applied position. There are various people on the board. These include Cale Baich, the President; Nadia Mustafa, the Vice President; Marie Provine, the Secretary; Cassie Ramirez Breneman, the treasure, May Le, the general counsel, and Leticia de la Vara, the National Board Representative. The staff of ACLU is Alessandra Navidad (American Civil Liberties Union). The group gives $480 million to the politician, $300 to congress, and $150 for campaigns (American Civil Liberties Union). One thing that interests me is their focus on protecting people’s rights. Yes, I would join ACLU because it is beneficial to people who are denied their rights.

In conclusion, ACLU has played a vital role in the United States. It has helped in protecting people’s rights, and people feel valued because their rights are upheld. More so, it has created job opportunities for many people, and it has helped make the government recognize every individual's rights. It has several offices in the cities, and this has made it easy to receive cases.

Works Cited

American Civil Liberties Union. About the ACLU. n.d, www.aclu.org/about-aclu.