ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the author attempts a less partisan, more analytically useful formulation of the concept of special interest, one that encompasses both groups to which he belong as well as those his abhor. In 1980 special interest spending was peaking at 5.6 percent of GNP; by 1989 it had fallen to 3.7 percent, roughly the same level that it had been in 1962. The special interest programs include everything that remains in the federal budget after interest on the debt, defense, and programs for the elderly, safety-net, and agricultural programs have been excluded. Programs for the retired are becoming increasingly expensive, as the number of retirees grows and the cost of health care continues to rise at a rate faster than overall increases in the cost of living. The political engine that drove the growth in special interest programs through Democratic and Republican years alike seems to have been the decentralized policymaking system that evolved in the 1960s and 1970s.