Political PartiesChapter 5

PARTIES AND WHAT THEY DOSection 1

Introduction

• What are political parties, and how do they function in our two-party system?• A party is a group of people who try to control

government by winning elections and holding public office.

• Political Parties:• Nominate candidates• Inform and inspire supporters• Encourage good behavior among members• Govern once in office• Perform oversight on government actions

Three Elements of a Political Party

• The party organization is the party professionals who run the party at all levels by contributing time, money, and skill.

• The party in government includes the candidates and officeholders who serve at all levels of government.

• The party in the electorate are the millions of voters who identify strongly with a particular party and support its policies.

What Parties Do

• Parties express the will of the people in government. They can also encourage unity by modifying conflicting views and encouraging compromise.

• Parties nominate—find, recruit, prepare, and gather public support for—qualified political candidates.

• Parties inform the public and try to shape public opinion, using all forms of media to campaign for or against opposing candidates and policy issues.

Roles of Parties

• Parties act as a “bonding agent” to encourage accountability among their candidates and office holders.

• Parties play a key roles in governing at all levels.• Legislatures are organized along party lines and

parties shape the electoral process.• Partisanship guides many legislative votes and

appointments to public office.• Parties provide channels of communication

between the branches of government.

Parties as “Watchdogs”

• In particular, the minority party keeps a close eye on the actions of the party that controls the executive branch to make sure that it does not abuse its power or violate the public trust.

The Two-Party System

• The Republican and Democratic parties dominate American politics.• Only the candidates from the two major

parties have a chance to win most elections.

• Why is this the case?• The Framers opposed political parties.

• They saw parties as “factions” that caused disunity and conflict. George Washington warned against the dangers of parties.

Tradition

• Once established, parties became part of tradition.

• The nature of the election process supports the two-party system.• Nearly all American elections take place in single-

member districts--only the one candidate who wins the largest number of votes gets elected to office.

• This works against third-party candidates, who have little chance of finishing in the top two.

Tradition

• The two major parties write election rules that discourage non-major parties.

• For example, it is very difficult for a third party candidate to get on the ballot in all 50 states.

Ideological Consensus

• Americans tend to share a broad ideological consensus.• The United States is made

up of many different cultural groups.

• While Americans don’t agree on every issue, they do support the same basic freedoms.

• Strongly divisive issues have tended not to last for generations.

Building Consensus

• Both major parties try to be moderate and build consensus.• Both parties tend to have a few major areas of

policy differences while being rather similar in other areas.

• The similarities between parties arises because both parties are after a majority of voters in any given election. Both parties must compete for the many voters in the middle of the political spectrum.

Political Spectrum

Radical Favors extreme change to create an altered or entirely new social system.

Liberal Believes that government must take action to change economic, political, and ideological policies thought to be unfair.

Moderate Holds beliefs that fall between liberal and conservative views, usually including some of each.

Conservative Seeks to keep in place the economic, political, and social structures of society.

Reactionary Favors extreme change to restore society to an earlier, more conservative state.

Multiparty Systems

• Multiparty systems are used by many democracies.• They have several major and many smaller

parties.• Each party is based on a particular interest.

• These interests can include economic class, religion, or political ideology.

Multiparty Systems

• Multiparty systems tend to represent a more diverse group of citizens.• Supporters admire this feature, arguing

that it gives voters many more choices among candidates and policies.

• However, this diversity often makes multiparty systems less stable. The power to govern must usually be shared by several parties who join in a coalition.

One Party Systems

• Only one political party exists, offering no real choice.

• Some U.S. states and districts are “modified one-party systems.”

• In these places, one party repeatedly wins most of the elections and dominates government.

TWO PARTY SYSTEM IN AMERICAN HISTORY

Section 2

Introduction

• How has the two-party system affected the history of American government?• During different periods in American

history, either the Democratic or Republican Party has dominated national politics and the branches of the federal government.

• Recent history has seen the federal government divided between two parties.

The Nation’s First Parties

• The battle over ratification of the Constitution led to the rise of the first major parties.

• The Federalist Party was formed by supporters of the Constitution. • They wanted a stronger national government and

policies that helped financial, commercial, and manufacturing interests.

• Alexander Hamilton and John Adams were key representatives.

Democratic-Republican Party

• Opposing the Federalists was the Democratic-Republican Party.• They wanted a more limited national government,

with policies aimed at helping farmers, planters, labor, and small business.

• Key leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison favored a strict interpretation of the Constitution.

The Democratic Party

• The election of 1796 was the first time two parties fought for the presidency.• The Federalists won, but

faded from power after losing the 1800 election.

• The Democratic-Republicans later split apart and gave rise to the Democratic Party.

The Era of the Democrats

• The Democratic Party won 13 of 15 presidential elections from 1800 to 1860.

• In the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson began a period of so-called Jacksonian democracy, marked by three major political changes:• Voting rights were expanded to include all white

males, not just those with property.• A huge increase in the number of elected offices

around the country.• The spread of the spoils system.

Democrats versus Whigs

• The Democrats drew much of their support from small farmers, pioneers, and slaveholders in the South and West.

• Their greatest rivals were the Whigs, who were supported by wealthier merchant and industrial interests in the East.

Democrats versus Whigs

• The debate over slavery split the Whigs and the Democrats apart in the 1850s.• The Democrats were split between

northern and southern factions.

• Many Whigs and antislavery Democrats joined the new Republican Party in 1854.

Era of the Republicans

• The Republican Party won 14 of 18 presidential elections from 1860 to 1932.

• The Civil War crippled the Democrats.• All their powers was concentrated in the South,

which they controlled for roughly 100 years after Reconstruction ended.

• The Republican dominated nationally.• They had the support of farmers, laborers, business

and financial interests, and freed African Americans.• The Republicans benefited from years of economic

prosperity.

Economic Turmoil

• An economic downturn made the election of 1896 critical.

• Labor unions joined small farmers and small business owners to back the Democrats.

• The Republicans won by appealing to a wider range of voters, but the Democrats gained new support outside the South.

End of the Republican Era

• The Republicans lost the presidency in 1912 largely due to a third party candidate.• Former Republican Theodore Roosevelt ran

as a member of the new Progressive Party and split the Republican vote, helping Democrat Woodrow Wilson win.

Party Identity: Past & Present

• Cartoonist Thomas Nast has been credited with creating the party symbols in is 1874 cartoon for the magazine Harper’s Weekly.

• Originally, neither party adopted his ideas. Over time, each party assumed and revised the symbols, which havebecome synonymous with party identity.

Return of the Democrats

• The Democrats won 7 out of 9 presidential elections from 1932 to 1968.

• The Great Depression sparked the comeback of the Democrats.

• With the economy in ruins, the Democrats gained the support of southerners, small farmers, big-city political organizations, labor unions, and minority groups.

Era of Divided Government

• The Republicans won 7 out of 10 presidential elections from 1968 to 2004.

• The Democrats controlled Congress for most of this period.• Republicans controlled Congress from 1995 to

2000 while Democrat Bill Clinton was President.• This division of power meant that neither

party could easily control the agenda of the government without making compromises.

Republicans in the 1980s

• The Republicans made major changes to U.S. foreign trade and domestic policies during the 1980s.• Republican candidates Ronald Reagan and

George H.W. Bush won three landslide victories during this period.

Political Parties Today

• In recent years, control of Congress, particularly the Senate, has shifted back and forth between the major parties.• Typically newly elected Presidents has a

“coattail” effect that brings other candidates from their party to Congress. In recent years, this has not been the case.

THE MINOR PARTIESSection 3

Introduction

• What role have minor parties played in American politics?• American minor parties have fallen into four

broad categories: ideological parties, single-issue parties, economic protest parties, and splinter parties.

• Minor parties can play a spoiler role in elections by taking critical votes from a major party.

• They can also be the first to bring key issues to public attention with their campaigns.

Ideological Parties

• Ideological parties are based on a particular set of beliefs that usually involve society, politics, and the economy.

• Most of these parties have involved Marxist ideas, such as Socialist, Socialist Labor, Socialist Worker, and Communist parties.

Ideological Parties

• The Libertarian Party promotes the opposite view, calling for the elimination of most government functions and programs.

• Ideological parties rarely win many votes, but can last for many years.

Single Party Issues

• Single issue parties emphasize one public policy issue.• For example, the Free

Soil Party opposed the spread of slavery to the West.

• Most single issue parties fade away when their issue is resolved or no longer attracts public interest.

Economic Protest Parties

• Economic protest parties arise in periods of economic trouble.

• They call for economic reforms. • The Populist Party of the 1890s arose

from the Greenbacks. They demanded public ownership of railroads, telephone, and telegraph companies along with political reforms.

• These parties disappear when the hard economic times end.

Splinter Parties

• Splinter parties split away from one of the major parties.

• They are often centered on a particular candidate who fails to win his or her major party nomination, or arise from a strong disagreement within a major party

Splinter Parties

• The Dixiecrat and American Independent parties split from the Democratic Party over states’ rights and civil rights issues. • George C. Wallace, governor

of Alabama campaigned for President in 1968 as a member of the American Independent Party

The Bull Moose Party

• The Progressive parties of Theodore Roosevelt and Robert La Follette split from the Republican Party.• Roosevelt’s party was

nicknamed the Bull Moose Party.

• Splinter parties tend to break up when their leaders step aside.

Minor Party Influence

• Minor parties can also play a spoiler role.• By winning electoral votes or even enough

popular votes to affect the outcome in a key state, a minor party can affect the outcome of an election.

Affecting Presidential Elections

• It is not common for a minor party candidacy to shift the outcome of a presidential election.

• Theodore Roosevelt’s candidacy as a Progressive Party member most likely cost Republican William Taft the presidential election of 1912.

• Ralph Nader’s Green Party may have cost Democrat Al Gore the very close presidential election of 2000 by gaining votes in swing states such as Florida.

Raising Public Awareness

• The most important role of minor parties is to raise public awareness of controversial issues.• Women’s suffrage, income tax, and regulation of

banking and railroads were all first championed by minor parties.

• Minor parties challenge the major parties to take action on issues, often accusing them of being part of the problem.

• The more successful minor parties’ efforts are to raise awareness of an issue, the more likely it is that major parties will put the idea into their own campaign platforms.

Minor Party Candidates

• In 2008 there were seventeen minor party presidential candidates appearing on the ballot of at least one state.

• More than 1,000 minor party candidates also sought seats in Congress or offices in various state and local elections.

PARTY ORGANIZATIONSection 4

Introduction

• How are political parties organized at the federal, State, and local levels? • Parties are decentralized.• National Committees represent each

party’s interests at the national level.• Most states have a central party

committee.• Local party structures vary quite widely

from place to place.

A Decentralized Structure

• Neither party has an unbroken chain of command running through all levels of government.• The President is the nominal leader of his or her

party. • This means that the party of the President is

typically better organized than its rival party.• The President’s media exposure and power to make

appointments is valuable, but does not give him or her complete authority over all party activities.

Federalism

• The federal system is decentralized.• There are more than half

a million elective offices in the United States spread across federal, state, and local governments.

• The parties must satisfy a very wide range of voters, which makes it hard to have a unified party message.

How does this cartoon illustrate the decentralized nature of political parties?

The Nominating Process

• The nominating process can lead to competition within the parties.

• Nominations are made within the party and can divide party members if there is a dispute over nominees.

The National Convention

• The national convention is held every presidential election year.

• The convention names the party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates, adopts the party’s rules, and writes the official party platform.

• The convention does not name candidates for other offices and has no control over the actual policies supported by candidates.

National Committee

• The national committee handles party issues in between conventions.• Each party’s national committee includes a

committee member from each state.

• The Republican National Committee (RNC) now seats the party chairperson for each state as well as representatives from various Republican groups and the U.S. territories.

National Committee

• The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is even larger. It includes the party chair and vice chairperson from each state, additional party members from the larger states, and up to 75 at large members chosen by the DNC.

National Chairperson

• The national chairperson leads the national committee.• The chairperson is

chosen after the national convention by the presidential nominee.

• Howard Dean (right) served as the Democratic Party’s national chairperson in the 2008 election.

National Chairperson

• The national chairperson directs the work of the party headquarters and professional staff in Washington, D.C.

• In presidential election years, the national chairperson’s work involves the presidential campaign.

• In other years, the chairperson concentrates on building party unity, raising money, and recruiting new voters for the next election.

Campaign Committees

• Each party also has a campaign committee for each house of Congress.

• These committees work to get party members elected or reelected to Congress.

Raising Funds

• Both parties spend a great deal of effort to make sure the party’s officeholders stay in power.

• What does the chart show about spending over the last several years?

• Why might well-known party members be invited to speak at dinners?

State Party Organization

• State law largely determines party organization at the state level.

• Most states have a central party committee headed by a chairperson.• The committee members choose the chairperson, who

often has a great deal of independence in conducting party affairs.

• Committee members are chosen by a variety of methods: primaries, caucuses, or state conventions.

• These officials try to promote party unity, find candidates, and raise funds.

Local Party Organization

• Local party structure varies a great deal.

• In some places local party organizations are active year-round, but usually they focus their efforts on the few months before an election.• What kind of party jobs do

you think exist at each level of organization?