Formal Paper Ap Government Essays

Formal Paper Ap Government Essays Formal Paper Ap Government Essay Formal Paper Ap Government Essay Interest groups are groups of people that work together on the behalf of a particular belief or topic. They have had an increasingly large impact on American politics. One interest group that is currently experiencing a lot of power is the National Organization of Women, also known as NOW. They fight very strongly for the rights of all women no matter her background or ethnicity. The National Organization of Women was founded in 1966 by 28 men and women including Betty Friedan, Pauli Murray, and Shirley Chisholm. The statement of purpose that they came up with to define what they are fighting for states â€Å"The purpose of NOW is to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men. † Their membership holds 500,000 members that are scattered across the country. There are 5,987 chapters in 47 states, not including Hawaii, North Dakota, and Maine, and in Washington D. C. In order to become a member, one simply goes on the website and fills out an application then makes a donation. NOW gets their money from two main sources; fundraisers and donations from members. In order to achieve their agenda items, the organizers of NOW take the time to call each of their members to keep them up to date on the current issues as well as try to persuade them who to vote for in upcoming elections. Currently, NOW members are pushing for the support of the Fair Elections Now Act. : Their website reads, â€Å"Save Our Democracy Support the Fair Elections Now Act† and goes n to explain the purpose of the act and why women should vote for it. They use very strong language as well as a play on emotions in their articles because they know that the vast majority of their supporters are women that can be greatly affected through the way that NOW states its issues. A major issue that NOW is currently facing is abortion rights and reproduction problems. The members fully support access to sage and legal abortion. They also believe that birth control, emergency contraception, reproductive health services, and education should be available to all women. They oppose all attempts to make these things unavailable or illegal. The speakers of NOW affirm that reproductive rights are issues of life and death, not mere matters of choice. They believe that women are fully capable of making decisions about their own bodies and sexuality free from government interference. Violence against women is another issue that NOW feels very strongly about. They believe that all efforts to â€Å"keep women in their place† including domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, violence at abortion clinics, hate crimes across lines of gender, sexuality or race, the gender bias in our judicial system, and the violence of poverty emphasized by the radical right’s attacks on poor women and children, are wrong and should be stopped. These things not only effect the woman that was acted against, but also the women surrounding her as they see what might happen to them out in the world. Even though NOW realizes that there are other crimes of violence being committed against other groups, they feel that fighting violence against women would affect the most people country wide. NOW also fights for racial and ethnic diversity. They claim to being committed to diversifying their movement and continuing to fight for equal opportunities for women of color in all areas. They strongly disapprove of racism and discrimination. Another issue that NOW has committed to fighting is lesbian rights. They oppose all discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender in all areas including employment, housing, public accommodations, health services, child custody, and military policies. They promote positive images in the media and education on the effects of homophobia. NOW wants the rights of equal marriage to apply to all. Currently, NOW has a campaign going on called Love Your Body. It is a women’s health project that provides information on different things that could affect a woman’s life like drugs and alcohol, being overweight, acne, HIV/AIDS, and eating disorders. This campaign provides statistics, definitions, problems, and even ways to cope with such issues. It is trying to show women that its okay to not look like models on TV and in magazines and to get them comfortable being who they really are. It also tries to instill confidence in the everyday woman. They think that more confident women will be more likely to get up and vote and stand up for what they believe in. : www. nowfoundation. org www. now. org