Why Advocacy Groups are Bad for the U.S. (Part I)

I am not going to say that all advocacy groups and individuals that support them are bad for the U.S., but a majority of these groups are causing problems. Here are my reasons:

Polarity – Many causes and special interest groups have opposing advocacy organizations. When this happens, they generally fall as either Right or Left; Republican or Democrat; or Conservative or Liberal on the political spectrum. There is no grey area or area in the middle; hence many advocacy groups are extreme opposites. No one is advocating on middle ground trying compromise. And to complicate matters, there are so many advocacy groups seeking political attention this is only working to polarize Americans and the federal government further. Pro Life v. Abortion, Union v. Right to Work, Fossil Fuels v. Green, Gun Control v. Second Amendment, Socialism v. Capitalism, Gay v. Marriage, Environmentalists v. Fossil Fuels, and Private Enterprise or States’ Rights v. Big Government, to name a few. I refuse to join any advocacy group or political party because they restrict brain growth and reason.

Priority – Individuals feel their cause or special interest is the most important thing and should receive top priority. This relates to how our society is devolving into a populous of narcissistic individuals whose focus is very narrow and self-indulgent with no regards to others.

Power – The goal of advocacy groups is to achieve more power for their cause. Power may come in the form of more money, laws, rules, regulations, and or mandates. I believe in the conservation of power. Just as there is only enough money to go around, there is only enough power to go around. Hence, the strengthening of one advocacy group must lead to the weakening of another. One final point, many advocacy groups believe money solves all problems, this is a bad assumption. For instance, pouring more money into education in poverty stricken areas will not improve the education of students if other variables such as the curriculum, teachers, and administrators are not improved.

Probability, Prediction, and Prognostication – No one can predict the future. However, many advocacy groups and organizations seem to think they can. What is particularly strange about this is less than 1% of all Americans have the capacity to create or understand statistics, models, programing, or linear algebra to predict future trends. For this reason, both sides of the climate change debate are perplexing since no one can predict the future. The same can be said for both sides of the gun debate – neither side can definitively proclaim the future outlook on crime. What if PETA gets its way and everyone becomes a vegetarian? How does the U.S. produce nearly 500 million more pounds of vegetarian food a day to feed everyone? In other words, be careful what you wish for. We can become identical to India with cows roaming the streets and people starving to death.