Relations Between Pressure Groups and Political Parties in the State of Washington

• Date: 01 September 1958
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295801100322
• Author: Daniel M. Ogden
• Published date: 01 September 1958
• Subject Matter: Articles

711

The

above

must

be

considered

in

light

of

the

very

limited

function

party

organization

has

in

Oregon.

The

voters

nominate

all

candidates

including

presidential

electors

and

delegates

to

the

national

conventions.

The

voters

instruct

the

delegates

in

a

presidential

preferential

primary.

The

party

organizations

do

not

hold

conventions

and

have

only

rarely

drawn

up

plat-

forms

or

issued

policy

statements.

Considering

the

lack

of

function

of

the

parties

there

is

considerable

ef-

fort

to

control

them.

A

year

ago

a

member

of

Congress

flew

from

Washing-

ton

to

promote

the

candidacy

of

the

state

vice-chairman.

In

1952

the

candidates

for

Republican

national

committeeman

spent

a

reported

$15,840.87

and

in

1956,

$20,437.41.

Democratic

aspirants

reported

$2,733.21

1

in

1952

and

$11,228.18

in

1956.

Thus

it

is

seen

that

to

some

the

party

is

worth

controlling

and

consequently

intraparty

tensions

may

be

expected

to

continue.

RELATIONS

BETWEEN

PRESSURE

GROUPS

AND

POLITICAL

PARTIES

IN

THE

STATE

OF

WASHINGTON

DANIEL

M.

OGDEN,

JR.*

*

State

College

of

Washington.

Pressure

groups

-

organized

private

associations

which

individuals

con,

sciously

join

and

in

which

they

participate

to

some

degree

-

whether

united

by

political

or

non-political

goals,

are

often

described

as

though

they

were

something

outside,

separate,

and

apart

from

political

parties.

Party

decentralization

is

viewed

as

an

evil

because

it

permits

such

groups

to

&dquo;worm&dquo;

their

way

into

the

party,

to

lobby

its

successful

candidates,

and

to

shape

public

policy

despite

party

promises.

Such

a

concept

of

pressure

groups

and

their

role

rests

upon

a

funda-

mental

misconception

of

the

nature

of

American

political

parties

and

their

relation

with

organized

pressure

groups.

Our

two

major

political

parties

really

are

mulri-graup

associations,

composed

of

many

different

kinds

of

people

who

join

for

many

different

reasons,

some

of

which

are

neither

issues

nor

group-related.

The

party’s

principal

objective

is

to

win

in

order

to

pra-

mote

the

accommodation

of

individual

and

group

interests

and

objectives

including

both

needs

which

are

particular

to

rather

small

groups

and

needs

which

may

be

shared

among

many

or

all

groups

as

well

as

by

persons

who

are

not

group

members.

Thus

membership

overlaps.

Individuals

see

no

inherent

conflict

in

be-

longing

to

different

pressure

groups

whch

may

sometimes

seek

conflicting

goals.

Likewise,

they

see

no

conflict

between

party

membership

and

pres-

sure

group

membership.

Since

the

members

of

virtually

no

pressure

groups

belong

exclusively

to

either

political

party,

pressure

groups

bring

issues

to