Advantages and Disadvantages

Pressure groups and lobbyists are very influential when it comes to citizens being a part of government and having their voice and thoughts heard. These people are usually successful because they are so passionate for what they want and/or need and have gained information to sell their ideas to the government. The assembly of First Nations has been successful in the past with their pressure groups. As well as implementing NAFTA in North America which has benefitted so many people in Canada. The downfall to pressure groups is if the government doesn’t agree with what the group or lobbyist is asking for, those people have wasted so much time creating their presentation. As well, since lobbyists can be very persuasive towards the government, they could quite possibly influence the government into implementing laws and policies that are not in the public interest, for example the gold awareness day that was discussed in class, it won’t harm anyone but it wasn’t in anyone’s interest and the class decided they would rather focus on something more important and necessary in our world.

Civil disobedience can be very controversial when it comes to people having their voice heard. For someone to do this in our day, they need to follow the three principals of civil disobedience; don’t involve violence, should only be directed towards laws that are seriously harmful, and it requires taking responsibility for one’s actions. Following these principals will also show how passionate they are towards their beliefs and therefore persuade the government. This way of people having their voices heard can be very powerful, for example, Viola Desmond. She peacefully protested racism in a theatre by seating on the main floor with all the white people. She was harassed by the management and eventually arrested but she took responsibility for her actions and her legacy has lived destroying racism in Canada. The disadvantage to Civil disobedience is protester who don’t follow all the principals can butcher their chance of making a change. Many times, in the past, people will be disrespectful and act out in violence when protesting which unfortunately does not get their voices heard and instead they gain disrespect and from the government and anyone they are trying to persuade.

Petitions are a great way for voices to be heard and show the government how many people feel there is a problem or something needs to be fixed. In the example used in class of the HST tax wanting to be rescind and bringing back PST and GST, the petition worked in the sense that it got over 500,00 signatures and created a movement in the government to see what the people wanted. The problem with petitions is they don’t always work, depending on who is signing and what for. For instance, if Viola Desmond were to make a petition, we assume only black people would have signed it, therefore not creating enough motion for the government to do anything about the segregation laws. Therefore, petitions can be very successful to create change because they show how some laws may not be in the best interest of citizens, but they might not always work because of who is signing the petition.