Sophie Gunderson, Chapter 8, Question 6

A resonating point Charles Wheelan brought up through the chapter is the fact that "When it comes to interest group politics, it pays to be small (p.170)". This quote, along with the example of the corn farmers that followed, stuck out to me immensely. 

It's interesting that the people that have the most passion about something tend to be people that are included in a smaller group. They are the people who I thought tended to be glanced over as the politicians are more focused on the other 98 percent of the population. Little did I know that these small groups, when passionate enough, gain subsidies and benefits from the government. However, when these small groups add up on top of each other, those mere pennies that come from our taxes to subsidize corn farmers. Wheelan also uses an example of right handed voters vs left handed voters and if we gave a benefit to right handed voters, the lefties would have to pay for it. A wise politician would go with the small group of lefties and gain their votes. It struck me because that isn't necessarily how I thought it was. I always tended to assume that the large group won most of the time. 

Wheelan ends this segment of the chapter by saying, "In politics, the tail can wag the dog (p. 180)". 

This humorous slogan and segment is what stuck out to me most from this chapter because of the new knowledge and creative thinking behind it.