The nuclear family in the United States and other Western nations are engaging in a full frontal assault from several entities. Government, corporations, media, education, and culture are actively involved in redesigning and restructuring our Heavenly Father's design and plan for families. God created the family. The spirit of the age is working through the agencies above to dismantle the family structure and create an alternative family that extracts God, his Word, and his purpose from humankind.
The Bible is clear. We, as Christians, wrestle against principalities and powers in high places. The Iron Triangle is one of them. Let’s begin with interest groups. What are they? An interest group is anyone who advocates for something in public policy. Interest groups come from corporations, industries, and social causes. In the Iron Triangle, interest groups lobby Congress. Lobbying came from the place of the lobby in 17th century England. People wanted to speak and persuade members of Parliament to their side and would wait in the lobby to talk to them. Lobbyists do the exact thing today. They make appointments with Congress to address their needs and wants and try influencing them to introduce bills or vote for laws that benefit their organization or group. Interest groups organize people to vote, fundraise, and support local candidates. They also use their money for marketing and payment to their lobbyists.
To get a fuller understanding, here are two examples of how the Iron Triangle operates in our nation today:
1. The Military-Industrial Complex
a. Interest Group- The Department of Defense
b. Congress-Congressional Committees
c. Bureaucracy- Defense Contractors
2. Senior Citizens
a. Interest Group-The American Association of Retired Persons
b. Congress-Congressional Subcommittee on Aging
c. Bureaucracy-Social Security Administration
Depending on what party is leading in Congress and who is President will determine what interest groups get heard and find favors from the government.
Here is a list of the interest groups that pay the most to lobby in Congress.
Check out this link:
https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/top-spenders
You will see that the Chamber of Commerce is the largest special interest group that spends the most money on lobbying. They represent not only people but corporations. What's interesting about the Chamber of Commerce is how they have changed their political landscape in the last few years. In 2014, the Chamber gave over 90 percent of its donations to the Republican party, but that changed when Trump came into office. Why? When Trump became the President, he cracked down on immigration—the business community benefits from the cheap labor that comes across the border. Republicans represent the American worker and the American business. Corporations and larger companies care about their bottom dollar. Their interest is making money, and they will move to other nations to do it.
The Chamber began giving their money to Democrats, and they also endorsed the “Equality Act,” which would insert gender ideology into federal civil rights law, violating the business owner’s conscience.
In part two of this article series, we’ll examine the Iron Triangle more to understand its influence.