Political Parties
The 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
INFORM & ACTIVATE SUPPORTERS
Bonding agent
• Political parties nominate/endorse their officials for public office
who are of good character and quality.
• Mitt Romney 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 is responsible
for monitoring
winning parties
actions.
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
• We have a very dominant two party system in the U.S.
• A two party system is exactly what it sounds like it 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.