Political Science

AARP also known as the American Association of Retired Persons was founded in 1958. It is a United States-based non-governmental organization that is nonprofit making and an interest group (Morris 2004). Its membership constitutes of people aged 50 and above, working or retired and is committed to assisting them to assess independent and purposeful lives. It is headed by an executive director assisted by an elected board of directors totaling 21 in number and has an administrative staff that conducts the day to day activities of the organization. Most of its funding is obtained from annual membership subscriptions. It has over 33 million members making it list among the largest joined organizations (Rushefsky  Patel 1998).

 AARP is popularly known for pursuing and addressing issues that affect aging people through several initiatives, and also by its powerful lobbying presence at the state and national levels which is made possible by the fact that its membership is large and they are able to mobilize public opinion for or against policy and politicians (Rushefsky  Patel 1998). It enhances the quality of life of its members as they grow old by offering a wide range of distinct benefits and unique products and services. AARP Services, Inc. is a subsidiary of AARP and it runs a number of products and services that are offered as benefits to the members, they include health products, travel and leisure products and life event services.

It also provides security, protection and empowerment for aged people in need this they accomplish by giving them job training and providing placement needed to rejoin the workforce. Litigation staff is involved in protecting the legal rights of old members in areas of critical health, consumer and employment situations (Morris 2004). AARP also publishes a magazine twice a month that focuses mainly on aging issues and is distributed to all its members aimed at reducing ignorance and to educate them.

 The organization holds that it is non-partisan and does not back or support materially any candidate or political party. AARP uses its the size of it community locally, countrywide activities, volunteers, community papers, the media in carrying out its objectives (Morris 2004).

Recent events relevant to AARP
According to Nashville News dated Feb 17th 2010 Senior Drivers to Receive Discount on insurance Senior citizens in Tennessee were entitled to a discount on pursuing an online driving course this had been passed by the Senate un-opposed. AARP supported this measure and offered an 8-hour driving class for its members (AARP, 2010).

According to, The Hill paper dated Feb 17th 2010 the conservative activist rolled out campaigns to oppose the health care reform bill introduced by the democrats, but AARP was supportive of the Democrats efforts, since among other things the legislation would support Medicare prescription drug benefit. Its support is worth noting since it is the largest organization representing aging Americans (AARP, 2010).

The actions engaged in by AARP to influence policy and public agenda include
Mobilizing public opinion for or against a policy.

Uses trained activists to influence legislators to support AARP decisions by putting pressure through demonstrations as well as rallies and sponsoring public forums.

Conclusion
The major strength of AARP is its large number of members which make it one of the largest and strongest organizations and this makes it have a powerful lobbying presence, which it utilizes to back its decisions and its demands, for example in 1989 the committee chairman Rostenkowski was approached by furious seniors who demanded the repeal of Medicare Catastrophic Care Act which had been approved the previous year to correct the problem of growing Medicare costs (AARP 2010). The legislation was repealed due to the pressure from the seniors this gave AARP mileage as an effective watchdog group.