5.1 - Political Parties
Political parties
What & Why?
•Political Party: A group of persons who seek to control government through the winning of elections and the holding of public office.
•The primary purpose of the political parties is to control government through winning election to public office.
Why are they important in democracy?
• Political parties are essential to democratic government.• They are a vital link between us
(the people) and the government.• Political parties work to end
conflict, like power brokers. They bring conflicting groups together for compromise.
• Soften the impact of extremists at both ends of the political spectrum.
The political spectrum
• On the LEFT we have…
The political Spectrum
• On the RIGHT we have…
A DONKEY & AN ELEPHANT…WHY?
• That’s what each party was labeled in a political
cartoon by Thomas Nast in the late 1800s, it
wasn’t their choice
• Another explanation for the Dems: Andrew
Jackson was being labeled a “Jackass” by his
opponents. He decided to embrace it and began
using the donkey. It was forgotten until Nast
brought it back…
So what do political parties do exactly?
• Nominate Candidates
• Inform and Activate Supporters: Shared responsibility with media &
interest groups.
• Act as “Bonding Agent”: Ensure good performance of its
candidates. Choose candidates that are qualified & posses good
character. If not, they suffer in the next election.
• Governing: Helps legislative & executive work together. Congress
is organized on party lines, which means they conduct business on
partisanship
• Partisanship: Strong support of one’s political party and its
policy standards.
• Act as watchdog: Usually the watchdog is the party who is out of
power. They urge the public to “Throw the rascals out”
democratic national Convention: Nominating obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF6vlimutCg
INFORM & ACTIVATE SUPPORTERS
Bonding agent• Political parties nominate/endorse their officials for
public office who are of good character and quality.
• John McCain possessed these characters, but to some in his own Republican Party he wasn’t Republican enough:
Partisanship
Allegiance to a political party
Watchdog
The party out of power
5.2 – Minor Parties• Minor Parties are exactly what they sound
like.
• Minor Parties are political parties without wide vote support• Examples: The United States Pirate
Party, United States Marijuana Party.
Two Party System• Instead, we have a very dominant two
party system in the U.S.
• A two party system is exactly what it sounds like
• A two party system is a political system dominated by two major parties
• We have only two parties because it’s in our history:• Federalists & Anti-Federalists
• Is this good or bad? Or both?
The Electoral System
• Nearly every election held in the U.S. are single member district elections.• Single-Member Districts: contests in
which only one candidate is elected to each office on the ballot
• Winner take all!
• Winner receives a plurality.• Plurality: receiving the largest number of
votes cast for office• This may not mean the majority of all
voters, but just the MOST votes.
American Ideological consensus
• American’s are ideologically homogenous:
• Americans have shared many of the same political
ideals, beliefs, and principles. (Freedom, Opportunity,
etc)
• BUT we’re not all the same. We are pluralistic
society.
• A pluralistic society is a society consisting of several
distinct cultures and groups.
But there is still consensus…
•Consensus is the general agreement
among various groups on
fundamental issues
•We eventually compromise. The
U.S. has been free of long-standing,
bitter disputes based on factors like
economic class, social status,
religious beliefs, or national origin.
Should there be a multi-party system?
• Some argue there should be a multi-party
system.
• A multi-party system is a system in which several
major and many lesser parties exist. They seriously
compete and actually win public office.
This brings in coalitions
• Multi-party systems have positives and
negatives. Because many of the smaller parties
represent one group/belief, how can they win
over a majority of voters?
• They form coalitions. Coalitions are a temporary
alliance of several working groups who come
together to form a working majority and so to
control a government.
• What are the positives/negatives of multi-party
systems?
Then there are one-party systems
• A one-party system is a political system in which
only one party exists
• Sound familiar?
5.4 – The minor parties
• Throughout history and today, there have been
minor parties:
• Remember we talked about the Pirate Party and
the Marijuana Party
• Well there are plenty more:
• Green Party
• Communist Party
• Socialist Party
• Libertarian Party
Types of Minor Parties
• Ideological Parties – Parties based on a particular set of
beliefs – a comprehensive view of social, economic, and
political matters.
• Examples – (Built on Marxist thought) Socialist Party, Libertarian
Party
• The Libertarian Party of today calls for individualism and less
government functions and government.
Single issue parties
• Single Issue Parties – Parties that focus on only one
public-policy matter.
• Examples – (Most single parties have now faded
away) The Free Soil Party (they opposed the spread
of slavery) and The American Party/Know Nothings
(they opposed Irish-Catholic immigration in the
1850s)
• Today, a single issue party is the Right to Life Party.
They oppose abortion.
• These types of parties faded because they fail to
attract enough voters.
Economic protest parties
• Economic Protest Parties – Parties rooted in poor
economic times, lacking a clear ideological base,
dissatisfied with current conditions and
demanding better times.
• Focus their anger on foreign imports, wall
street bankers, etc.
• Examples: The Greenback Party (they tried to
take advantage of agricultural discontent in the
late 1880s by appealing to struggling farmers)
and the Populist Party of the 1890s (they
demanded public ownership of railroads,
telephone companies).
What about the tea party?
• According to our definition, economic protest parties lack a clear ideological base.
• Ideologically, the Tea Party is a faction of the Right Wing.
Splinter Parties
• Splinter Parties – Parties that have split away from
one of the major parties.
• *Examples – President Theodore Roosevelt’s
“Bull Moose” Progressive Party of 1912. George
Wallace’s “American Independent Party”.
• Most splinter parties collapse when it’s
leader/founder step aside.
• In a way…this sounds like the Tea Party of today!
Why are minor parties important?
• A minor party, the “Anti-Masons” first used a
convention to nominate their presidential
candidate. Today, Republicans and Democrats do
the same thing.
• They can play spoiler to one of the two major parties
by taking away some of their votes.
• They take on roles of innovator and critic, more so
than Republicans/Democrat.
• “The major parties are stealing from my platform.”
Party Organization & decentralization?
• Party power is decentralized (power is spread out
between levels of govt & people).
• Reasons for this decentralization:
• Federalism – Because federalism hands over power to
state govt and local govt, there’re millions of elective
offices in the U.S. That’s too many.
• Therefore, the elective offices are decentralized just like our
govt!
• Nominating Process - Democrats nominate Democrats and
Republicans nominate Republicans. Results in: Dems
fighting Dems and Repubs fighting Repubs.
Example: Obama vs. Hillary
National party machinery
• The structure of both major
parties at the national level
has four basic elements.
The first one:
• National Convention – Meets
in the summer of every
presidential election year
• Purpose: Picks the party’s
presidential & vice-
presidential candidates
National committee
• The National Committee – They meet between the
time of each national convention
• Purpose: Mainly works on staging the party’s
national convention every four years
• Politicians from each state make up these
national committees for each party…so these
committees are large but they don’t hold much
power.
National Chairperson
• National Chairperson – Elected to a four
year term by the national committee after
the suggestion of the just nominated
presidential candidate after the
convention
• Purpose: Works to strengthen party
unity, raise money, prepare the party for
the next presidential season
Congressional Campaign committee
• Congressional Campaign Committee –2 years
• Purpose – Work to reelect incumbents and to make
sure that seats given up by retiring party members
remain the party or work to unseat incumbents of
the opposing party
• Members of this committee are chosen by their
colleagues.
• All in all, from smallest to biggest:
• Congressional Campaign Committee National
Committee National Chairperson
The State & Local level
• At state level, party machinery built around a State
central committee
• Headed by: State chairperson.
• Organization is based off congressional districts.
• At local level, party organization varies widely
because there are so many elective offices
• Local level organization involves wards & precincts
• Ward – A unit into which cities are often divided for the
election of city council members
• Precinct – The smallest unit of election administration*
Main components/elements of a party
• The party in the organization - This refers
to the party leaders, the activists, the
donors, etc.
• The party in the electorate - This includes
the party’s voters and loyalists
• The party in the government - This
includes the party’s officeholders in all
levels of the government
The future…
• Political parties have never been very popular
in America
• Many Americans have mixed feelings towards
them
• Increase in the numbers of voters who call
themselves Independents, rather than
Republican/Democrats
• An increase in split ticket voting - Voting for
candidates of different parties for different
offices at the same election
The future…
• Technology has changed the organization and
work of political parties.
• Technology has made candidates less dependent
on party organizations since, in many cases, and
now speak directly to the people.
• The increase of single-issue parties.