Chapter 9

• A political party is a group that attempts to control/change government by getting people elected to office that align with their views
• Americans are less involved with political parties than they once were, and are much less involved with parties than other nations like France, Italy, or
Sweden o Americans used to be heavily committed to their party—something they would not easily abandon

• Parties have three major functions o As a label o As a campaigning tool for candidates o As a set of leaders who attempt to control the legislative/executive branches
• The strong party will be able to appeal to people as a label, dictate who will be its candidates and how the campaigns will be run and will control at least one of the branches

• Look at the chart o What does it tell you about party identification since 1988?
o Why are more people moving to
“independent” versus the other two parties?
• Even those who identify themselves as
“Republican” or
“Democrat” often become split-ticket
voters meaning they will choose one party for one office and choose another party for a different office

• The main reason parties have become weakened in the U.S. is that we have become more centralized, except elections
• How candidates are chosen are not dictated by a national party, but rather every state has their own process o Each state has some form of primary or caucus to select a candidate o The people get to vote in these, so the party’s only influence is by way of convincing people to choose their candidate o As we just saw, if people are not identifying with a particular party they are less likely to “tow the party line”

• The Founders disliked “factions” (parties) o Madison wrote about them in The Federalist Paper #10
• Washington’s Farwell Address condemned the idea
• The first party was made up of Jefferson’s followers o They were called the Republicans or Democratic-Republicans
• Hamilton’s followers were called the Federalists
• In the years that followed, it was assumed that the parties would fade away o They did until after James Monroe o In these early years political participation was very limited and conducted mostly through local offices

• Please read the rest of this section (p. 197-199) on your own.
• Party Realignments o Also known as critical or realigning periods
• Realignments occur when a major, lasting change of what is “critical” to a party and who supports that issue o In 1860 the parties had to take a clear position on slavery o In 1896 it was an issue of the Gold Standard versus Silver o In 1932 it was the Great Depression (Democrats gained support from northern blacks and Jewish voters
• Parties may end up dealigning as the “labels” of the parties becoming meaningless and we see more independents

• The best evidence to see that parties are in decline is by looking at the ballot
• More voters practice split-ticket voting versus straight ticket voting o Split-ticket means you choose candidates from various parties for various offices in the same election o Straight-ticket voting means you choose the same party for off offices in a given election (Republican for President, Senator, HoR, Governor, etc.)
• How can we see this trend?
o In 1988 half of the House Democrats were from districts that voted for G.
Bush, Sr.

• Split-ticket was practically unheard of before the mid-1900s o They used to give you a Democrat ballot or Republican ballot (Partycolumn or “Indiana” ballot)
• Progressives pushed for a new type of ballot o The office-bloc or “Massachusetts” ballot listed all the candidates based on the office they were running for on the same ballot o President: Obama, Romney, Barr, etc.

• Both of the major parties have the same basic structure o National convention—meeting every 4 years for the party delegates (that big event the Republicans had in Tampa back in August 2012) o National committee—the group of delegates from each state to run party affairs between conventions o Congressional Campaign Committee—helps their congress members run for election/re-election o National Chairman—runs the day to day affairs of the party (elected by the committee), also used to help chose who got federal jobs (spoils system)
• Please read the National Conventions section (p.
204-206)

• Political machines were common in the 1900s (and are still around today in pockets)
• They recruit members by using tangible incentives like money, jobs, or favors from the government
• The Hatch Act was passed making it illegal for federal workers to take an active part in politics outside of voting and donating to campaigns o This did not end political machines—Chicago and NYC still struggle with these issues

• These are parties that stand firmly on values/principles
• They are usually minority parties (the Democrats and Republicans have had moments where they’ve acted like ideological parties)
• Socialist, Libertarian, Right-to-Life Party, and
Prohibition Party are all ideological parties
• Frequently we will see the major parties adopt popular ideological party ideas to gain their support

• Some people join parties so they can be “in the know” or have the sense of belonging/status that comes with the political organization o This is called Solidarity Incentives
• Sponsored Parties occur when some group within a community comes together and rallies for a certain party o For example, the United Mine Workers for against the Republicans in the 2012 election due to Democrats stance on mining versus green energy o This allows the party to campaign without spending much money
• Most candidates however, have to have a personal following to get elected o They cannot rely on the other things we’ve talked about because many
Americans have turned away from them—thus, you have to be charismatic and charming

• The Two-Party system is a political system with two dominant parties that compete for national elections
(Democrats and Republicans in the US) o There are only 15 two-party systems in the world
• One reason we have this is because of the winner-takeall system in elections o When we have an election the person who wins the most votes wins the election—this is called a plurality o Plurality is different from a majority
• Plurality = Smith 41%, Jones 35%, Bradford 10%--Smith wins
• Majority = Smith 41%, Jones 35%, Bradford 10%--no one wins because no one got 50% of the vote
• The other reason we have the two party system is because voters can clearly see a difference between the two parties about what they believe and what is important to them o Democrats focus on healthcare and welfare while Republicans focus on defense and foreign trade

• There are four types of minor parties
• Ideological Parties—already discussed
• One-issue parties o Free-Soil, Know-Nothings, Prohibition, and Women’s party
• Economic-protest parties o Rise up to deal with a particular economic issue—Greenback party,
Populist Party
• Factional Party (Splinter party) o Bull Moose, Progressive Party, Dixiecrats, American Independent, Reform
Party

• Read p. 215-217
• By the end of class write one paragraph comparing/contrasting primaries and caucuses