The Iron Triangle
Observers of the modern American government often point to an iron
triangle that best demonstrates who really does the work of
government. The iron triangle, sometimes called a subgovernment,
consists of interest groups, members of congressional subcommittees,
and agency bureaucrats.
Who really governs the United States? Many political analysts believe
policy is set by the participants in the "Iron Triangle" rather than elected
officials.
According to the theory, agencies and departments usually keep close
contacts with interest group lobbyists who want to influence their
actions. Interest groups may provide valuable statistics to government
agencies, and they are motivated to have their point of view heard.
Both lobbyists and bureaucrats value contact with congressional
subcommittees that shape the laws that govern their interests. Working
together, these three groups set most government policies.
An example of such an iron triangle would be the American Association
for Retired People (AARP), the House Subcommittee on Aging, and the
Social Security Administration all working together to set government
policy on Social Security.
Bureaucratic Iron Triangles
An iron triangle is defined as a three-sided, mutually advantageous
relationship between members of Congressional Committees,
Bureaucrats, and interest groups. Most of the Congressional
Committees and Subcommittees have relationships with the agencies
whose programs they authorize and appropriate money for. The
committees and the bureaucrats from the agencies have close
relationships with interest groups that want to influence policy.
The literal components of an iron triangle such as one involving
agriculture, includes key members of the House and Senate committees
on Agriculture (such as a committee chairman), officials from the US
Department of Agriculture (such as a director of a division), and
lobbyists who represent an interest group such as the American Farm
Bureau Federation. The relationship is simple. The USDA does what the
committees want because the (House)committees have the "power of
the purse" and in return the USDA gets political support and budget
appropriations. The Committees do what the AFBF wants in return for
votes and campaign contributions.
These iron triangles exist at the local and state levels as well. For
example, one could exist between the North Carolina Farm Bureau, the
North Carolina Congressional committees on Agriculture and the North
Carolina Department of Agriculture. This iron triangle may ensure that
hog farmers receive state money from the "Rainy Day Fund" to create
sanitary means of hog waste disposal.
The iron triangle is a form of client politics, that is, it is only beneficial
to few, but a large part of society will pay the cost. They are also very
difficult to penetrate or influence from outside of the iron
triangle. Even presidents have a great deal of difficulty penetrating
them. This is, for the most part, not democratic. The voters only have
influence over the members of Congress involved. The essential control
of the law lies with the interest group. The people can do nothing to
control the interest group as long as it is not breaking the law. The
same is true with the Bureaucracy. It is almost impossible to fire a
bureaucrat. This has a negative effect on democracy, but it is part of
American politics. American political ideology derives from the idea of
the power of the majority without stepping on the feet of the minority.
The Pharmaceutical “Iron Triangle”
Professor Paul Johnson describes iron triangles as “closed, mutually
supportive relationships between government agencies, special interest
lobbying organizations, and the legislative committees or
subcommittees with jurisdiction over a particular functional area of
government policy.
Prof. Johnson writes:
“As long as they hang together, the members of these small groups of
movers and shakers tend to dominate all policy-making in their
respective specialized areas of concern, and they tend to present a
united front against “outsiders” who attempt to invade their turf and
alter established policies that have been worked out by years of private
negotiations among the “insiders”…
These triangles are said to be “strong as iron” in that these mutually
supportive relationships are often so politically powerful that
representatives of the more general interests of society are usually
effectively prevented from “interfering” with policy-making altogether
whenever their concept of the general interest runs counter to the
special interests of the entrenched interest groups, bureaucrats and
politicians.
The pharmaceutical “iron triangle” consists of congressional leaders
who fund the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health
(NIH).
(the could also include insurance, nursing home care, AARP etc)
Because infectious disease became statistically irrelevant in the US by
1955, the HHS, CDC and NIH pay activist organizations like TAG,
HousingWorks, DC Fights Back to coerce and threaten anyone who
threatens the billions of dollars wasted by these agencies EVERY
YEAR. Targets include congressman, politicians, theologians, public
speakers and judges.
For example, when Congress threatened to reduce AIDS
funding, protesters funded by the CDC (e.g. taxpayers), the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the New York
State Department of Health, made noise.
Examples of Top Interest Groups:
1. National Rifle Association
2. American Association of Retired People (AARP)
3. National Federation of Independent Business
4. American Israel Foreign Affairs Committee
5. Association of Trial Lawyers of America
6. AFL-CIO
7. Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America
8. National Beer Wholesalers of America
9. National Association of Realtors
10. National Association of Manufacturers
11. National Association of Homebuilders of the United States
12. American Medical Association
13. American Hospital Association
14. National Education Association of the United States
15. American Farm Bureau Federation
16. Motion Picture Association of America
17. National Association of Broadcasters
18. National Right to Life Committee
19. Health Insurance Association of America
20. National Restaurant Association
21. National Governors' Association
22. Recording Industry Association of America
23. American Bankers Association
24. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
25. International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Researching Interest Groups
In researching an interest group, you would want to tell me about the
organization you picked.
Why did you pick it? What interests does it represent? Many
interest groups are trade associations. They represent an entire group
(or groups) of businesses, many of which are very powerful
corporations by themselves. For example, Motion Picture Association
of America (MPAA), at their WEB site http://www.mpaa.org/home.htm
, tells you the following: “The Motion Picture Association of America
(MPAA) and its international counterpart, the Motion Picture
Association (MPA) serve as the voice and advocate of the American
motion picture, home video and television industries, domestically
through the MPAA and internationally through the MPA.
“ (http://www.mpaa.org/about/) The MPAA has many members. They
only list a few, but as you can see by the list, these are huge
corporations.
These members include:
Walt Disney Company;
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc.;
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.;
Paramount Pictures Corporation;
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.;
Universal Studios, Inc.; and
Warner Bros. "