Political%20Parties

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Political Parties
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What is a political party?

• A team of people seeking to control the governing
  apparatus by winning elected office.

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Three incarnations of party?

• Party as Organization
• Office seekers
• Benefit seekers
• Party in the Electorate
• Party in Government

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Washingtons Farewell Address

• The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit
  of party are sufficient to make it the interest
  and duty of a wise people to discourage and
  restrain it.
• It serves always to distract the public councils
  and enfeeble the public administration. It
  agitates the community with ill-founded
  jealousies and false alarms, kindles the
  animosity of one part against another, foments
  occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the
  door to foreign influence and corruption, which
  finds a facilitated access to the government
  itself through the channels of party passions.
  Thus the policy and the will of one country are
  subjected to the policy and will of another.

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• The framers thought that parties were bad for
  America. Were they right? What are parties
  negative effects on the political system? What
  are their positive effects? What would politics
  be like without them?

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Why do we have political parties? What problems
do they solve?
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Problems that political parties solve

• Make legislating easier
• Mobilize voters/Simplify voter decision-making
• Regulate politicians ambition
• Enforce collective responsibility

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Problems that political parties create

• Can magnify and harden conflicts
• Can oversimplify issues
• Can seem to relieve citizens of hard work of
  self-education

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Electoral rules affect party strength

• The golden age of parties 1828-1912
• Declining party strength 1912-1972
• Era of weak parties 1972-1994
• Stronger parties? 1994-???

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The golden age of parties 1828-1912

• Spoils system
• No secret ballot
• Politics as entertainment
• Grass roots parties
• High voter turnout

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Declining party strength 1912-1972

• Australian ballot, secret ballot
• Civil service reforms
• Primary elections
• Direct election of senators
• Nonpartisan local elections
• New Deal welfare state
• More candidate-centered campaigns

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Era of weak parties 1972-1994

• TV
• Campaign finance
• Deep ideological divisions within parties
• (Particularly the Democratic party!)
• Weak party discipline in Congress
• Candidate centered elections
• Rise in number of independents
• Split ticket voting

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Stronger parties? 1994-???

• Strong party discipline in Congress
• Highly partisan, competitive presidential
  elections
• Increased turnout
• New restrictions on party-building?

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Which side are you on?

• Democrats to the LEFT
• Republicans to the RIGHT