Chapter 5 Political Parties

1
Political Parties
and
What They Do
2
What Is A Political Party?

• A group seeking to control government by winning
  elections and holding public office
• Can be principle, issue, or election oriented

3
The Two Main Parties in the U.S. Are . . .

• DEMOCRATS

• REPUBLICANS

4
What Do Parties Do?

• Provide options to the people
• Link between government and the people
• Bring conflicting groups together

5
The Nominating Function

• Selecting Candidates for public office
• Its an exclusive job for the parties, which
  helps set them apart from all of the other groups
  in politics

6
The Informer-Stimulator Function

• Inform people and activate their interest in
  pubic affairs
• They campaign, define issues, and criticize other
  candidates with the end goal of winning votes

7
The Seal of Approval Function

• They choose candidates who are qualified and of
  good character

8
The Governmental Function

• Helps legislative and executive branches work
  together
• Appoints made to executive branch are according
  to party allegiance

9
The Watchdog Function

• The party out of power criticizes the policies
  and behavior of the party in power
• Done so to convince the voters that they should
  vote for them in the next election

10
Why A Two-Party System? Historical Basis

• Debate over the Constitutions ratification
  created the first political parties
• Federalists Anti-Federalists

11
The Force of Tradition

• Most Americans support the two-party system
  because it has always existed.
• People are reluctant to support minor parties
  therefore they made little headway.

12
The Electoral System

• Single-member districts (winner take all)
  discourage voters from wasting votes on minor
  parties
• Election laws are deliberately written to
  discourage minority parties

13
American Ideological Consensus

• Americans tend to agree on fundamental issues
• Our major political parties take moderate stands
  and are built on compromise

14
Why Dont Other Systems Work? Multiparty Systems

• Each party represents a very different
  interest(s)
• Creates an unstable government
• American institutional and ideological ideas make
  a multiparty system unlikely

15
One-Party Systems

• No-Party System
• Nearly all dictatorships have one-party systems

16
How Do We Choose A Party?

• Membership is voluntary and generally composed of
  a mixture of the population
• Segments of the population tend to support one
  party or the other (for a period of time)
• Example Unions favored Democrats

17
Reasons For Choosing a Party

• Family
• Major Events war, depression
• Economic Status
• Place of Residence
• Level of Education
• Work Environment

18
The Two-Party System in American History
19
The Nations First Parties

• Federalists (pre 1800)
• Led by Alexander Hamilton
• Supporters were rich and from upper class
• Democratic-Republicans (1800 1820)
• Led by Thomas Jefferson
• Supporters were the common people

20
The Era of One-Party Domination

• The Era of the Democrats, 18001860
• The Era of the Republicans, 18601932
• The Return of the Democrats, 19321968
• The Start of a New Era
• Since 1968 the Republicans dominated the White
  House, while Democrats controlled Congress

21
Minority Parties in the US Ideological Parties

• Based on a specific set of beliefs, including a
  comprehensive view of social, economic, and
  political matters
• Example Libertarian Party
• Receive little votes, but are long-lived

22
Single-Issue Parties

• Concentrate on a single public policy matter
• Examples Know Nothings,
• Right-to-Life
• Faded into history as issues disappear

23
Economic Protest Parties

• Focus on economic discontent
• Example Greenback and Populist Parties

24
Splinter Parties

• Groups that break off from one of the two major
  parties
• Examples Bull Moose Party and Dixiecrats

25
The Key Role of Minority Parties

• Introduced useful ideas in American Politics
• Can play a splinter role in an election when
  the two major candidates are evenly matched.
• Most important is their roles as critics and
  reformers

26
The Organization of Political Parties
27
Reality of Political Parties

• Two major parties are highly decentralized
  (internal fighting)
• No real chain of command
• States parties loosely tied to national
• Local parties independent of states

28
The Role of the President

• The Presidents party is usually more solidly
  united than the opposing
• The President is the party leader
• The other party has no comparable leader

29
National Party MachineryFour Elements

• 1. National Convention
• Meet to nominate the presidential and vice
  presidential candidate every 4 years
• 2. National Committee
• Handles the partys affairs between conventions

30
National Party MachineryFour Elements

• 3. National Chairperson
• Heads up the national committee
• 4. Congressional Campaign Committees
• Job to increase partys congressional seats

31
State and Local Party Machinery

• State job is to further the partys interests
  in that state
• Local follow the States electoral map, most
  active a few months before an election

32
Three Elements of the Party

• Party Organization
• leaders, activists, and hangers-on who control
  party machinery
• Party in the electorate
• loyalists who vote their candidates
• Party in government
• officeholders at all levels of government

33
The Future of the Majority Parties

• Political Parties have been in a state of decline
  since the late 1960s
• Parties are unlikely to disappear as long as they
  continue to perform necessary functions

34
Reasons for Decline

• Larger number of voters registering as
  independent
• SPLIT-TICKET VOTING voting for candidates of
  both parties for offices at the same election.

35
Reasons (cont)

• Greater internal conflict
• Changes in technology of campaigning.
• Growth of single-issue organizations who side
  with a candidate on a specific issue.