Transcript Document

AP GOV: CHAPTER 7
POLITICAL PARTIES
Political Parties—Here and Abroad

A political party is a group that seeks to elect
candidates to a public office by supplying them
with a party identification by which they are known
to the electorate.
Political parties are found in three arenas: a label in
the minds of the voters, an organization that recruits
and campaigns, and a set of leaders who try to
organize and control branches of government.
 In Europe, the only way a person can become a
candidate is if they are nominated by party leaders.
Campaigns are run by the party, not the candidate.

Broad Appeal
•
To win elections in the United States,
political parties must be “broad based.”
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The party platform, a statement about
their positions on the issues, must appeal
to a wide segment of the voting
population.
Party Loyalty?
•
Political parties in the United States are too
decentralized for either party to take a national
position and then enforce it at the state and local
level. We do not have a “responsible party
system”.
•
There is no mechanism for a party to discipline
officeholders and ensure cohesion in
policymaking.
•
In a primary election, do party leaders have
control as to who will run?
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So are all Republicans/Democrats committed to
its program?
The Rise & Decline of the Political
Party
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Our nation began without political parties—the founders
opposed them and viewed them as factions.
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The first organized political party was made up of followers of
Jefferson in the 1790s. They called themselves Republicans,
while followers of Hamilton called themselves Federalists.
The Civil War changed political parties: those who supported the
Union became Republicans, and those who supported the
Confederacy became Democrats.
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This split meant most states became one-party states. Further,
competition for office at the state level became a competition within
the party.
Beginning in the 1900s, progressives began to push measures
which would abolish political parties. They favored primaries over
nominating conventions and nonpartisan elections at the city
level.

These measures reduced political corruption and “boss rule.”
The National Party Structure Today

On paper, the Democratic and Republican parties are
similar:
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Both have national conventions that meet every 4 years
to nominate a Presidential candidate.
Both have national committees which manage party
affairs between conventions.
Both have a congressional campaign committee in
Congress which helps members of the party in Congress
to be reelected or to challenge a candidate from the
opposition.
Both have national chairmen who are elected by the
committee to manage day-to-day work. The sitting
President chooses the chair for their party where the
committee votes to chose the chair for the party out of
power.
Differences Between the Parties

In the late 1960s/early 1970s, the Republican
party moved to a bureaucratic structure and
began to use computerized mailing lists to
raise money.
 Eventually,
Democrats realized Republicans had
the right idea and began to emulate them.

The National Committee sets a time and place
for the convention and then sets the number of
delegates for each state.
State and Local Parties

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In every state, there is a Democratic and Republican party organized under
state law.
A political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the
use of tangible incentives and that is characterized by a high degree of
leadership control over member activity.
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The abuses of the political machine have been well known. Gradually, things like
civil service reforms and the Hatch Act curtailed the abuse.
The opposite of the political machine is the ideological party, which values
principles above all else.
Members of solidary groups are influenced by solidary incentives, or
social rewards.
Sponsored parties are created or sustained by another organization.
These are uncommon in the U.S.
Because most candidates no longer count on the backing of a machine,
they must form a personal following that will work for them during a
campaign. This requires an appealing personality, an extensive network,
name recognition, and money.
State Party
Committees
County Party
Committees
Municipal Party Committees
Precinct Party Committees
Private Clubs and Organizations
The Two-Party System

At the Presidential level, our parties are balanced: between 1888
and 2012, Republicans have won 17 elections and Democrats have
won 15.
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Scholars disagree about why the two-party system continues to
dominate American life:
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At the state and congressional district levels, it is less even.
The plurality system means that in all elections, the winner is the
person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not reach a
majority.
Voters make it clear that many believe each party is “better” at different
issues, meaning we broadly lump slightly differing ideologies into two big
camps.
The type of minor party most likely to endure is an ideological one.

It is surprising that major historical events haven’t led to more minor
parties: the civil rights movement and the antiwar movement could have
each led to a third party, but didn’t.
The Party platform
•
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the
Republican National Committee (RNC) are
responsible for producing party platforms, statements
of party principles and issue positions.
•
These platforms help guide voters and candidates in
knowing where the party stands on important issues.
•
-- there are many philosophical differences between the
parties on many issues: tax policy, labor laws, abortion, gay
and lesbian rights, and affirmative action
-- the two party platforms do not show much difference
on some issues, ex. support for Israel
•
Party Platforms
Third Parties
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A third party is one that enters the electoral contests
without having a realistic chance of winning an election.
-- at times these parties do affect the outcome of the
contest between the two major parties (Ralph Nader in
2000)
Third parties are created for different reasons:
-- they promote certain causes (prohibition) or
extreme ideological positions (socialism or libertarianism)
-- they are an offshoot, a splinter group, of a major
party (Teddy Roosevelt’s Progressives or Strom
Thurmond’s States’ Righters [Dixiecrat])
-- a popular person wants to run who is dissatisfied
with the two major parties and is unable to win a major
party’s nomination (Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996)
Third Parties
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Third parties often bring new groups into the electorate
and serve as “safety valves” for discontent.
-- Free Soilers were the first anti-slavery party
-- the Progressives and Populists put forth many
social reforms
-- American Independent party (George Wallace)
focused support for “law and order”
-- Ross Perot focused on the federal deficit
-- Ralph Nader’s Green party focused on the
environment
If we had a multi-party system where we have more than
one winner in an election (European model [coalition
governments]), we would end up with very narrow-based
parties (an environmental party, a Roman Catholic party,
a union-based party, farmers’ parties, or an African
American party).
Why We Have a Two-Party System
(Remember we have one winner per election)
Election Results:
Party A
Party B
Party C
Party D
40%
30%
20%
10%
Party A wins as they have the most votes
Party D, which received only 10% of the votes tries to make a deal
with one of the other three parties. You incorporate some of my ideas
and I’ll throw my support to you. Also, how difficult would it be for Party D
to raise funds knowing that it is unlikely to win.
So Party D merges and most support Party B, but some support Party C
Why We Have a Two-Party System
(Remember we have one winner per election)
Election Results:
Party A
Party B
Party C
40%
38%
22%
Party A wins as they have the most votes
Party C, which received only 22% of the votes tries to make a deal
with one of the other two parties. You incorporate some of my ideas
and I’ll throw my support to you. Also, how difficult would it be for Party C
to raise funds knowing that it is unlikely to win.
So Party C merges and most support Party B, but some support Party A
And we end up with two major broad based parties
Proportional Representation
(Israel)
35
31
30
25
20
15
10
19
17
12
12
7
5
7
6
4
3
2
0
N = 120
2013
Proportional Representation
(Netherlands)
Seats
Votes
Christian Democrats
Christian Democrats
Socialist
Socialist
8
9
7
3
10
9
3
10
8
People’s
Party
People’s
Party
Labor
25
27
10
Freedom
Party
8
Labor
27
25
10
Freedom
Party
2012
Nominating a President
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The major parties face two contrary forces:
 The
desire to win the presidency, which pushes
them in the direction of being moderate
 The need to keep dissident elements in the party
from splitting and creating a third party, which
pushes them to compromise in ways that might
compromise their standing with moderates