Its a party !!
Political Parties
Chapter 5
What do you know about political parties?
• What are the two major political parties in
the US?
• What are political parties and what do they
do?
• Do other countries have political parties?
• Political Party = a group of persons,
usually joined by common principles who
attempt to control or influence public policy
by winning elections and holding public
office
What do political parties do?
What is their function?
• Informing and Activating Voters
– giving voters a coherent public expression on public
policy issues.
– generating a community of like-minded people from a
diverse community.
– defining the public issues, creating a “public agenda”
• Providing candidates
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recruiting people to run for office
formally nominating them to the ballot
conducting election campaigns
providing info to voters about candidates and policy
What do political parties do?
What is their function?
• Acting as a link between government and public.
partisanship: strong support of party
• Governing
and its “platform” (stand on issues)
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provide a means of organizing government
formulate legislative programs
provide a system for legislators to advance their goals
provide members with “belonging & solidarity”
provide practical assistance to legislators
control the executive branch through the election of
president and his appointment of staff
Types of Political Parties
• “membership” parties
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tightly organized
members may carry membership cards
ideological
possibly single-issue
may provide other social benefits
• broad-based parties
Communist
Party
Democratic and
Republican Parties
– loosely organized
– representing basic political ideas to which highly diverse
elements of society may be attracted
Party Systems
• 1-Party
– Communist Party
– not a democratic system
• Multi-party or Parliamentary
– strongly ideological
– party “discipline” necessary for governance
– Usually proportional representation
• 2 –Party or “Shared Powers”
– strong, broad-based but loosely organized
– party “discipline” not needed for governance
– Usually (in the US) single-member districts
requiring a plurality of votes for election
Why do we have a 2 party system?
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tradition Federalists vs. Anti-federalists
electoral system
ballot access restrictions
ideological consensus surrounding basic
ideals of government
Minor Parties
• A variety through history
– ideological parties
– Libertarian
– Socialist/Communist
– single-issue parties
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Free Soil Party (anti-slavery) 1840s-1850s
“Know-Nothings” nativists 1840s-1850s
Prohibition Party
Right to Life Party
– economic protest parties
• Greenback Party
• Populists
– splinter Parties
• “Bull Moose” Progressives
• States’ Rights (Dixiecrats)
• American Independent Party (Wallace 1968)
Today
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2004
3rd parties vied in 765 of
the 5,795 state
legislative elections.
Green Party
8 won.
Libertarians
Constitution Party
America First
Americans Elect
Democratic Socialists of America
in California
– Natural Law Party
– Peace and Freedom
• Research your assigned party
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What is their platform?
How is the party structured?
Who are their major candidates?
What successes have they enjoyed?
• Where are they most successful?
– Who is their targeted constituency?
• What type of people might vote for them?
• 8x11 mini-poster
– informative
– visually appealing
– carefully constructed/detailed
• Which sports teams have tended to
dominate in the last decade?
• Historically, a particular political party has
tended to dominate for 10-40 years before
a major event brings about a change.
What events in US history may have
provoked a change?
Read 5.3 p.126-131
“The 2-party System in US History”
Create a timeline
Label it with the 4 eras and the event that
established the era.
1800
Then complete #1-5, page 131.
2010
History of 2 Party System
4 major eras
• 1800-1860 Era of “Democrats”
• ends with Civil War
• 1860-1932 Era of Republicans
• ends with Great Depression
• 1932-1968 Era of Democrats
• ends with Vietnam, social upheaval/”Big Government
• 1968-Present Era of Divided Government
1800-1860 Era of “Democrats”
• 1800-1825 “Era of Good Feelings”
» no organized opposition
• 1829-1837 Jacksonian Democrats
• small farmers, debtors, frontiersmen, slaveholders
• universal, white, male suffrage
• “spoils system”
• Opposition: “Whigs” (National Republican Party)
– bankers, merchants, industrialists, plantation owners
1860-1932 Era of Republicans
• Abraham Lincoln – 1st Republican President
• Generally support the issues of the North
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laissez-faire
limited government (rise of Big Business)
gold standard
anti-slavery but not pro-civil rights
unresponsive to labor issues, small farmers
• Democratic Party fractured by the Civil War
• Populist Party, Socialists
Thomas Nast
1932-1968 Era of Democrats
• FDR and the New Deal
– government can solve problems
• incorporates Progressivism
– “social safety net”
– coalition of minorities, the poor, labor, farmers
• African-Americans switched parties
– culminates with LBJ’s “Great Society”
1968-Present: Era of Divided Government
executive branch/legislative branch
• Republicans
dominate the
executive
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Nixon
Ford
Reagan
Bush I
Bush II
Carter
Clinton
Obama
• Democrats have
usually controlled
Congress
– exception: 1996 – 2007
» 2010-