Chapter 5
Parties and
What They
Do?
 Political Party
 Is a group of persons who seek
to control government through
the winning of elections and
holding of public office.
 Major Parties
 Republican
 Democrat
 Both parties are no
primarily principle or issue
oriented.
 ???????
 They are election
oriented.
 Nominate Candidates
 Name candidates for public office
 Parties select candidates and the present
them to the voters.
 Informing and Activating Supporters
 The parties inform the people, and inspire
and activate their interests and participation
in public affairs.
 The Bonding Agent Function
 Bond- is an agreement that protects a person
or company against loss caused by a third
party.
 The party acts as a bonding agent to
ensure the good performance of its
candidates and officeholders.
 Governing
 Congress and state legislatures are organized
on party lines, and they conduct much of
their business on the basis of partisanship.
 Acting as Watchdog
 Parties act as watchdogs over the conduct of
public’s business.
 It plays this role as it criticizes the policies
and behavior of the party in power.
 Historical Basis
 Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists
 George Washington’s Farewell Address
 The Force of Tradition
 Accept the idea of a two party system,
simply because there has always been
one.
 The Electoral System
 Single member districts- candidate is
elected to each office on the ballot.
Winner takes all.
 The American Ideological
Consensus
 Republican- in favor of private market
forces in the economy and to argue that
the Federal Government should be less
extensively involved in social welfare
programs.
 Democrats- vote for a candidate who
supports social welfare, government
regulation, of business practices, and
efforts to improve the status of
minorities.
Why a
twoparty
system
?
Replacement of a two
party system
They would replace it
with a multiparty
system, which several
major and minor
parties exist, seriously
compete for, and
actually win public
offices.
Would this work in
America?
This is really a no
party system.
Democrats and
Republicans go
back and forth as
far as popularity.
States also have
their party that
they are affiliated
with.
 The State of Utah???
 This is purely voluntary.
 Its what they choose to be.
 Parties must be able to attract
supporters.
 Supporters can be young, old, citydwellers, suburbanites, and rural
residents among it members.
 They can also be any age to support any
political party.
 Different Parties

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The Libertarian Party
Prohibition National Committee
America First Party
The Constitution Party
The Natural Law Party
The Socialists Labor Party
Green Party of the United States
The Communists Party
 Federalists




Formed around Alexander Hamilton
Party of the rich and the well born
Most of them supported the Constitution
Worked to create a stronger national
government.
 Appealed to Financial, manufacturing,
and commercial interests.
 Liberal interpretation of the Constitution.
 Jeffersonian
 Followers of the Common Man
 Very limited role for the new government.
 Congress should dominate that new
government.
 Its policies should help the nation’s small
shopkeepers, farmers, laborers, and
planters.
 First election in which they clashed
was in 1796
 John Adams beating Jefferson by 3 votes.
The
Nation’s
First
Parties
 Era of the Democrats 1800-1860.
 Thomas Jefferson’s election marked the
beginning .
 This will last until the Civil War.
 The Era of the Republicans 18601932.
 The Civil War sparked the beginning for a one
party domination.
 McKinley
 Grover Cleveland
 Taft
 Roosevelt
 The Return of the Democrats 19321968
 Franklin Roosevelt
 Truman
 The Start of a New Era
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Richard Nixon-Republican
Gerald Ford-Republican
Jimmy Carter- Democrat
Ronald Reagan- Republican
George Bush- Republican
William Jefferson Clinton- Democrat
George HW Bush- Republican
Barack Obama- Democrat
Ideological Parties
 Parties based on a particular
set of beliefs.
Single Issue Parties
 They focus on only one
public-policy matter.
Economic Protest
Parties
 They have been rooted in
economic discontent.
Splinter Parties
 They have split from one of
the major parties.
Still have an impact on
American politics and
on the major parties.
Minor parties
continue to be active
today.
Many minor parties
also seek seats in
Congress or run for
various State and local
offices.
Why
Minor
Parties
Are
Important
 The Role of The Presidency
 The President’s Party is usually more
organized than the opposing party.
 President is automatically the party
leader.
 The Impact of Federalism
 Federalism is one major reason for the
decentralized nature of the two major
parties is to gain control of the
government.
 They do this by winning elective offices.
 The Role of the Nominating
Process
 Plays a central role in the life of political
parties.
 First: Candidate selection is an intraparty
process. Nomination within the party.
 Second: The nominating process can be a
divisive one. Fight over the nomination.
 Prime process is making of their
nomination.
 The National Convention
 The Party’s national voice
 The National Committee
 The parties affairs are handled
 The National Chairperson
 Leader of the national
committee.
 Chosen in a four year term
 The Congressional
Campaign Committees
 Each party also has a campaign
committee in each house of
Congress. These committees
work to reelect incumbents and
to make sure that seats given up
remain in the party.
The State Organization
 At the State level, party
machinery is built around a
State central committee,
headed by a State
chairperson.
 Chairperson and committee
work together to further the
parties interests.
Local Organization
 Ward- is a unit into which
cities are often divided for
the election of city council
members.
 Precinct- Is the smallest unit
of election administration;
the voters in each precinct
report to one polling place.
 1- The Party Organization
 These are the party leaders
 Activists
 All who give their time, money
and skills to the party.
 2- The Party in the
electorate
 The party’s loyalists who vote on
a straight party ticket.
 Party Members
 3- The Party in
Government
 Party’s officeholders
 Those who hold executive,
judicial, legislative offices in the
federal, state and local levels.
 The present, weakened state of
the parties can be traced to
several factors:
 1- A sharp drop in the number of
voters wiling to identify themselves
with their party.
 2- A big increase in split-ticket
voting. Voting for candidates of
different parties for different offices
at the same election.
 3- Various structural changes and
reforms that have made the parties
more open but led to internal
disorganization.
 4- Changes in technology of
campaigning for office. Television
and internet.
 5- The growth in both numbers and
impact, of single issue organizations
in our politics.
The
Future of
the Major
Parties