Citizenship participation: compare characteristics of major political parties based upon
philosophy, platform and support base
The article entitled Citizenship Norms and Political Participation in America:
The Good News Is ... the Bad News Is Wrong by Russell J. Dalton defines Citizenship
Participation as “a prime criterion for defining the democratic citizen and his or her role within
the political process, and it is central to the theoretical literature on democracy.” Every
American has the right or not to participate in the politics of America. Every individual has the
right to choose which political party they decide to associate themselves with, and every
individual should be aware of their political rights and responsibilities.
Historically America started off with a Five Party political system. However, for the
most part, America has been primarily a two party system, made up of the Democratic Party and
the Republican Party. With regards to the platform of these two parties, according to the
Differences Between Republicans and Democrats article, it states that the “Core Beliefs” of both
Republicans and Democrats are as follows: “Republicans believe that each person is responsible
for his or her own place in society. Government should enable each person the ability to secure
the benefits of society for themselves, their families and for those who are unable to care for
themselves.” while “Democrats believe it is the responsibility of government to care for all
individuals, even if it means giving up some individual rights and/or subordinating enterprise and
initiative.”
There are also Third Parties involved which are made up of independent political party
formed to oppose the two-party system. Some of the more commonly hear and larger Third
Parties are: Green Party, Libertarian Party, and Constitution Party. There are also smaller parties
within the Third Parties such as American First Party, American Party, American Independent
Party, and even an American Nazi Party. There is no law stating that the existence or formation
of Third Parties are illegal or a violation to the Constitution of the United States in anyway as
long as they these parties are formed, organized and run in accordance with the law. Although
Third Party candidates almost rarely to none ever win their political races, these parties and their
candidates have an effect on political races. These platforms are considered the “spoilers” as
they are able to take votes away and assist with voter turnout by bringing people to the polls to
vote on issues only their political party may find of importance. The last successful individual
from this platform to shine at the national level was in 1992 when Ross Perot ran for Presidency.
With regards to the political philosophy of these political parties, Democrats are often
described as the left-wing liberals while Republicans are often described as right-wing
conservatives. To give you a visual picture of better understanding the differences in their
philosophy lets envision an octopus. Now an octopus has a head which represents the political
party (democrat or republican). Democrats like the idea of taxes, not necessarily the increase of
taxes but likes tax dollars as they help form and fund various programs such as community based
programs (after school care, reduced lunch, health care clinics, etc…). They believe the
government knows what best for the American people. As program form and obligations are met
to meet the needs of the American people, legs are added to the octopus and next thing you
know, the octopus has many legs, with each leg representing the needs for their constituents. On
the other hand a republican octopus is the one minimizing and determining how many the legs
the octopus should have. The republicans feel each individual is responsible for their own place
in society. They believe that everyone has every opportunity to create their own destiny given
the same resources. Their goal is also to cut government spending so that government waste is
eliminated. If the republicans had their way, they would have one leg as that one leg would
represent opportunity. The one opportunity everyone would be born and entitled to and it would
be up to the individual on what destined life he/she will make for themselves.
With regards to political parties, they are organized at the local, state and national levels.
At each of these levels are individuals take on the leadership role to advocate for and who are
involved with selecting individuals to run for office. These individuals also manage the
candidates’ campaigns, stemming from the financial aspect to the way their constituents will be
attracted to their platforms. This is an example of active citizenship participation, where citizens
of the United States take an active role in political governance. Another example if citizen
participation is voting. The main objective of citizen participation is to be aware and participate
in everyday life. Citizens have an obligation be informed about the political issues going on,
how the political powers are being used by the elected officers and entitled to their own opinions.
In terms of politics support base pertains to the supporting voters of the political group.
It is rare that one would support or vote for the opposing candidate. Depending on what is on the
political agenda at all levels may determine how one supports a party of candidate. Some of the
variables that citizens take into consideration when deciding what political party to affiliate
themselves with are things such as their stance on the death penalty, economic ideas, stance on
the death penalty, military issues, stance on social and human ideas, same-sex marriages, and
philosophy to name a few. Below is a chart of both the democratic and republican as well as
third party political supports http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_parties_in_the_United_States.
Issue
Primary Related
Ideologies
Issues
frames
as
changes
to the
status
quo
Abortion
restrictions
Public
campaign
finance
Legal same-sex
marriage
Universal
health care
More
progressive
taxation
Strengthening
Immigration
laws
End capital
punishment
Drug
liberation
Civilian gun
control
Noninterventionis
m
Instant-runoff
voting
Green
Party
Social
democracy
Democratic
Party
American
liberalism
Libertarian
Party
Libertarianism
Republican
Party
American
conservatism
Constitution Party
Green
Politics
American
progressivism
Classical
liberalism
Neoconservatism
Conservative
Libertarianism
Paleoconservatism
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
With regards to democracy and citizenship, every American is entitled to the basic rights.
You have the rights to your beliefs and constitutional amendments. You have the right to decide
which political party you choose to affiliate and participate and no one has the right to tell you
otherwise. Therefore as a citizen it is important to stay current and up to date with everyday
current events. The more aware you are of what goes on nationally as well as internationally the
more in tuned you will be when it comes to election. Although it is pertinent that every citizen
exercise their rights to participate in the political it is also a responsibility. A responsibility to be
accountable for their action and recognition on the amount one participates in the political realm.
For example, if one decides not to vote, that is their choice however, if something should ever
come up such as a law being changed or an elected official makes a decision they are not in
agreement with, before they start grumbling, they need to take accountability on their action or
inaction. Like the saying “No Vote, No Grumble”.
Annotated Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_parties_in_the_United_States
http://www8.georgetown.edu/centers/cdacs/cid/daltonoccasionalpaper.pdf
http://www.politics1.com/parties.htm
http://www.democrats.org/
http://www.svgop.com/files/Differences%20Between%20Republicans%20and%20Democrats.pd
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