Active Citizenship
Get Involved with Politics
Getting Involved: Political Parties
• Political Party
• Organized group of elected officials and
supporters
• Promote certain principles, policies and
candidates
• Public opinions
• Public issues
• National security, health care, education, the
economy
History of Political Parties
• Not mentioned in the US Constitution
• George Washington
• Fearful of negative effects
• Warned against
• Did not belong to a political party
History of Political Parties
• Developed in the US
• Federalists and Anti-federalists (1780s1800s)
• Democrats and Whigs (1836-1850)
• Liberty party, Free Soil, Whigs, American
Party and Republican (1850s)
• Democrats and Republicans (1860)
• Progressives (1900-1920s)
• Democrats and Republicans
Today’s Political Parties
• Democrats
• Began as Anti-federalists
• Became Republicans
• Known as the Democrat-Republicans
• 1870 Thomas Nast
• the donkey used to embody the Democratic Party in an
illustration for Harper's Weekly
• Jackson donkey's stubbornness, strength and unpolished
manners strength into
political virtues.
Today’s Political Parties
• Republicans
• traces its roots to a coalition of
anti-slavery activists and territorial
expansionists
• The Republican Party in its early years
stood for protectionist tariffs, an end to
slavery on both moral and economic
grounds, territorial expansion,
industrial capitalism, and prohibition of
beverage alcohol.
• GOP
Today’s Political Parties
• Third Parties (minor parties)
• Minor parties in a two-party system
• Specific focus
• Typically not elected
• Green Party-Ralph Nader
• Reform Party- Ross Perot
• Libertarian Party
Functions of Political Parties
1. Gather people with similar values and
views into a movement
2. Govern in a predictable way
3. Compete in elections
Political Party Parts
• Party Platform
• Party’s set of principles and policies
• Express the beliefs and ideas on which the
party stands
• Planks
• Major parts of the platform
• Party Agenda
• Public issues it plans to tackle and the
strategies to deal with the issues
Party Systems
• One-party system
• One single, dominant party
• Two-party system
• Two competing parties
• Multi-party system
• Three or more competing parties
• Usually form Coalitions
• Coalitions= group of political parties who
come together when no one party receives
the majority of the votes; temporary
alliance
Grassroots Efforts
• Grassroots
• Claim support from the average citizens
and people of lesser means
Political Machine
• Type of party organization led by a single boss
who controls the local government
• Unresponsive to the voters
• State and local level
• Today…it’s not as corrupt
• Boss William Tweed- leader of New York’s Tammany Hall
• Get and keep power through Patronage
• Giving political offices and jobs in exchange for support
Political Culture: General Spirit of Politics
• Liberal
• Philosophy that emphasizes community
and strong government involvement to
solve social problems
• Conservative
• Philosophy that emphasizes individual
freedom and limiting government
Liberal
Moderate
Conservative
Groups within parties
and Political Change
• Reactionary
• Tend to be suspicious of change
• Call for a return to the way society was in the
past
• Moderate
• Reform comes from within the existing political
system
• Radical
• Change conditions fundamentally
• Change an entire political or economic system
• *Revolution*
State and Local Elections
• Initiative
• Citizens
• Vote on particular issue
• Citizens sign a petition
• Proposition
-Type of initiative
-Citizens choose whether to support
policies or changes to the law
• Recall Election
• Remove elected officials
• Petition signed
Elections
• Primary Election
• Voters choose candidates from the same party
• Winner receives the party nomination go on to
the general election
• Closed primary
• only members of the political party
• Open primary
• Vote for either party
• Do not have to be a registered member
OR
• Caucus
• Local meeting of party members
• Choose delegates to attend national convention
• Delegates nominate candidates
Elections
• National Convention
• 4 years
• Delegates (representatives)
• Nominate candidates for pres and vp
• Candidates
• Articulate party’s vision
• What do you look for in a candidate?
Election
• General Election
• Local, state and federal officials
• November
• 1st Tuesday after the first Monday
• Even numbered years
• Vote for candidates from ANY political
party
Elections
• Partisan Elections
• Political party included
• Nonpartisan Elections
• Political party affiliation not included
The Electoral College
Voting
• Most important responsibility
• 26th amendment
• Voter registration
• Secrecy
• Who can’t vote:
• Illegal aliens
• Convicted felons (temporarily)
• inmates in mental facilities
Registering to Vote
• Prior to Election day
• One Stop Early Voting
• Must be a qualified citizen
Voting
• Board of Elections
• Oversee voting process
• Report to polling places
• Schools, churches, community centers
• Voting district
• Determines which candidates a person
may vote for
• Precinct
• Area where a person is assigned to vote
• Several voting precincts within a district
Starter Questions
11/18/09
Answer on the next blank R page in
your INB.
• What is the goal of campaigning?
• Is everything you see in TV ads always
true? Why?
Campaigning
• Strategy for winning an election;
process of running for office
• Must be effective
• Strategy and hard work
Campaigns
• Canvassing
• Volunteers go door-to-door in neighborhoods
• Public places to encourage citizens to vote
• Political endorsements
•
•
•
•
Statements of support
Influential leaders/organizations
Lead to large numbers of votes
WHY??
Influencing Voters
• Propaganda
• Information meant to influence voters to support one
candidate over another
• Mold a candidates image
• Info may or may not be true
• Biased
Examples: testimonials, name calling,
glittering generalities, plain-folks, card
stacking
Influencing Voters
• Mold candidates image
• Positive
• Negative
• “Stacked Cards”
• Sway people into believing
• Misleading
Types of Propaganda
• “Just Plain Folk”
• Relatable
• Name Calling
• Accusations of past offenses,
incompetence, or betrayals of public trust
• “Glittering Generalities”
• Statement appealing to emotions of a
large group
• Vague
• Goal not alienate any group
Identify Propaganda Techniques
Living Room Candidate.org
As you watch the following
video clips, identify the most
common type of propaganda
or campaign technique used.
Create Propaganda
1. Fold the paper to create three
columns.
2. Label one column “just plain folk,”
another column “name calling,” and
the last column “glittering
generalities”
3. For each column create an example
of the type of propaganda.
Exit Pass
Respond to the following questions in a
paragraph.
What is the purpose of campaigning?
How do campaigns achieve their goals?
What should all individuals consider as
they experience campaigning?
Money For Campaigns
• Private resources
• Majority
• PACS
• Private donors
• Public Funding
• 1976
• Demonstrate broad support
• Raise private money first
• May accept funds, but must limit
campaign spending
PACS
• Political Action Committees
• Contribute money
• Support specific candidates
• Organized to help elect candidates that
will back the issues important to the
PAC
• Exit Polls
• Taken as people leave
• Asked who they voted for
• Bandwagon
• Adopting popular issues
• Voting for someone who will win
Methods of Voting
• Plurality voting
• Candidate receiving the largest number of
votes
• Majority voting
• Winner must receive more than 50% of
the vote