Special Interests Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 6

Special Interests - Essay Example Despite the fact that interest groups and political parties are separate institutions in terms of the functions they perform, today they have formed joint associations. Interest groups therefore have a joint association with political parties and also try to influence the president and Congress as these two branches work together to make policy. This paper defines an interest group and gives examples, discusses the relationship between interest groups and political parties, and explains how interest groups try to influence the president and Congress as the two branches work together to make policy. Keywords: Interest Group, Political Party, Policy, Interests, Lobbyists, Lobbying, President, Congress, Associations, Relationship, Campaign Finance, Grassroots Activities 1. Define an interest group, with examples People have different pursuits that they attach value to and defend. Such pursuits despite being focused towards different goals are all known as interests. Interests can theref ore be ethnic, religious, economic, or based on a range of other issues. ... 9). Interest groups have different structures and sizes, with some having many members, while others have no members at all. In the same way, some are organized in formal ways with bylaws, leaders, members, and holding of meetings regularly, while others are not organized in a formal way, hence loosely knit and have a few rules, with no leaders. Interest groups are therefore of different types, with the major types representing the areas of the economy. These include economic interest groups, environmental groups, public interest groups, and other interest groups. Economic interest groups. They form the largest category of interest groups. Bardes, Shelley, and Schmidt (2008) point out that â€Å"the major sectors that seek influence in Washington, D.C., include business, agriculture, labor unions and their members, government workers, and professionals† (p. 225). Trade associations and business interest groups are formed by those in business, and their main role is to influenc e the policies made by the government that have an impact on their businesses. Examples of business interest groups in the United States include the National Association of manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of commerce that represent businesses and manufacturing matters respectively. Agricultural interest groups are formed by agricultural farmers and their employees. Despite the fact that they represent a very small number of the US population, farmers and their employees in the United States have been able to influence legislations touching on their interests. Examples include the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Farmers Union, The peanut Growers Group, The American Dairy Association, and the National Soybean Association (Bardes, Shelley, &

David by Donatello, Michelangelo, Bemini Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

David by Donatello, Michelangelo, Bemini - Essay Example As the increasing pursuit for artistic excellence vividly reflects in the exquisite creations of Donatello and Michelangelo, their contemporaries were equivalently inspired to develop art forms according to the Greek and Roman concepts and this trend of innovative craftsmanship has carried on to influence even the works of Baroque sculptors like Bernini and those of the current modern artists alike. Religious themes had been immensely prevalent in the Renaissance art and David, a prominent biblical figure, became one of the famous subjects which distinguished the style and professional insights of one artist from the other as depicted in the masterpieces of Donatello, Michelangelo, and Bernini. Based on the momentous event marked by God’s will, the subject pertains to an Israelite shepherd boy who accepts the challenge and obtains triumph over the once was invincible Goliath of the Philistines. In each artist, there emerged a response of imagining how the image of David and th e projection of his heroic character may be brought to a three-dimensional interpretation that highly captures a substantial depth of detailing his major act of faith. The marble statue of David which served Donatello his first commission of the subject is apparently one that radiates naturalism in part as David’s curious look in the face seems to scrutinize the enemy at the onset of the fight. After defeat of the enemy, however, such facial expression liberates a new meaning quite transcendental, which is of Gothic effect that dissolves the initial attitude into a degree of general unaware countenance. A view of David that occurs detached from struggling emotion of having fought the gigantic adversary entails perpetual sense of conquest. Certain scholars have assumed this to be a subtle if not a humble fashion of exposing the pride and any premeditated confidence of vanquishing the enemy. When Donatello proceeded to come up with the bronze case of David in ca. 1440s, the scu lpture took on a significantly different approach from the marble pattern. Being the first freestanding nude male sculpture portraying an uncircumcised David bearing Goliath’s sword, the bronze statue wears an enigmatic smile besides the controversial effeminate positure. Commissioned by the Medici family for their palace in Florence, Donatello chose to sculpt David with a slight bend in his waist and one of his hands placed on his hip. The contrapposto pose was thought to be feminine; especially for a young man that just decapitated a giant like Goliath. David also had a look on his face that symbolized his youthful joy of his great accomplishment (Sayre 556). Both the laurelled top hat and boots add to the frail or fetish look that partly deprives it of the expected manly appearance which is rather plain to see in the crafts of Bernini and Michelangelo. Though it does not depart from the Greek idea of nakedness under contrapposto, the biblical essence is only slightly manif est in the bronze structure whereby the characteristic theme of the subject is less inclined to be prophetic than political. With the redundant appearance of a stone in David's sling and Goliath's forehead, Olszewski proposes that Donatello's use of the same stone twice indicates that David holds the loaded sling in the present tense while envisioning the stone's future placement in Goliath's head below. He further notes that this is in accordance to the scriptural account in which David responds to the Philistine giant in the future tense as he foretells what he is about to do to him (Olszewski, 1997). It was not until the 15th century, according to a review by L. Morelli, that idealized human figures