| Summary: |
This book is about the politics of interest representation. It is also about
health care policy and politics in the American states. But it is first and
foremost a book about interest representation. Simply put, there is a deep and
profound debate among both academics and citizens about the role interest
organizations play in the public policy process (Lowery and Gray 2004b).
On the one hand, the press routinely recycles stories of undue influence of
narrow, selfish special interest groups, highlighting their privileged position
in American politics. In academic discussions, this view is sometimes labeled
the transactions perspective because it suggests that much of politics is about
the purchasing of public policy. These special interests glide through the supermarket
of the public policy process, placing their preferred policies in a
market basket, and then proceed to the checkout counter to pay in the currency
of campaign contributions, promised employment for politicians in
postelectoral careers, or simply favors among overly convivial good old boys
(Schattschneider 1960). From this perspective, organized interests pose a direct
and material threat to democratic government.
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