Iron Triangle!!! Yay!

Next question to ponder......The Iron Triangle...what is it? Why is it critical for the functioning of a Republic??? Who are the "players" involved?

The Iron Triangle, by definition is a policy-making alliance that involves very strong ties among a congressional committee, an interest group, and a federal department or agency. Within this triangle network, each side of the triangle supports the other two. The congressional committees help the interest groups and agencies, the agencies support the congressional committees and interest groups, and finally the interest groups help both the congressional committees and the agencies. When looking at the concept of iron triangles we are able to see how all these organizations are collaborative and need each other in order to function correctly. Again, this brings us back to the idea of the governmental checks and balances system. Without the connection between all these groups and having them watch over each other, one group would be able to gain too much power and possibly cause a tyranny. As the number of interest groups within our government has risen, the concept of iron triangles has become much looser. While iron triangles are long-lasting and do not come and go away quickly, issue networks are short lived and bring up many of the issues. Issue networks include a variety of organizations and are defined as policy-making alliances among loosely connected participants that come together on a particular issue and then disband.
In order to have a functioning Republic the government must have systems to regulate itself. Although many of the groups/agencies work very much on their own on certain issues they must all still in some way be connected. The government is able to be much more efficient and effective when it works together. Without this system of checks and balances one of the branches is sure to go corrupt. People in their nature are power hungry and once they get a taste of it, if they have room to expand they will. If we were to let this happen nothing would ever get done. Congressional committees, interest groups, and agencies are basically the base of what we look at for our government. If one breaks down they must be able to monitor and support each other so that the entire system does not just come to a complete stop and fail immediately.
In conclusion, the iron triangle helps to set a basis for our government and helps all the systems to be aware of their responsibilities and regulations that are required of them.