Political Parties

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Political Parties

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In the Constitution

• Find the explanation of how political parties
  must form
• Outline the steps it takes to form a party

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Oops!

• There is NO MENTION of political parties
• Founding Fathers were against them
• Georgie warned of competition in farewell address

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American Political Parties Whats the Purpose
1. bring people together to achieve control of
the government 2. develop policies favorable to
their interests or to the groups that
support them 3. organizepersuade voters to
elect their candidates to office 4. represent
their constituents 5. attempt to put philosophy
into practice through legislation
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Party Systems one-party system the party
captures control of the government and does not
allow other parties to form most one-party
systems allow elections, but they are not
competitive because only that partys candidates
appear on the ballot--China, Iran,N.
Korea two-party system where two major political
parties compete for control of the
government different parties might control
local, state, and national government--US multipa
rty system many parties compete for control over
the legislative branch of government (the head of
the government is the leader of one of the major
parties in the legislature) these systems
usually arise in countries with a strong
parliamentary system-- Germany, Italy, France,
Israel, Japan
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Political Parties

• Republican
• Conservative ideology
• Small Government
• Low taxes
• Platform
• 2012PC Mitt Romney

• Democrat
• Liberal ideology
• Big Government
• High Taxes
• Platform
• 2012PC Barack Obama

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Political Ideologies

• Liberalism
• An ideology favoring an active role for
  government in efforts to solve societys problems
• Conservatism
• An ideology favoring a limited role for
  government and more private initiative by non
  governmental groups in efforts to solve societys
  problems

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Party Association Definition Changes Over
Timewhy might that be?
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Generally speaking

• Republicans hold more conservative views, and
  Democrats more liberal views.
• Why Third Parties Then?
• People frustrated with the 2 party system form
  3rd parties to express their opinions in
  constructive ways!!! (yay Democracy!!!)
• sooooodo they ever have an impact??

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The Role of Minor Parties A third party or minor
party is any party other than the two major
parties. Their common thread is that they believe
that neither party is meeting certain needs. A
third party runs a candidate to propose a remedy
to the situation and/or to draw attention to
their specific issue(s) or ideology.
single-issue party focuses exclusively on one
major economic, social, or moral issue
ex Prohibition Party, Womens Suffrage Party,
Right to Life Party ideological party focuses on
overall change in society rather than on one
single issue ex Communist Party,
Socialist Party, Libertarian Party splinter
party splits away from one of the two major
parties because of some disagreement ex
Green Party
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Electoral vote 1 vote per rep. senator in
each state to vote for President
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A Couple Key Third Parties

• Skim through the platform excerpts from the
  Libertarian Party and the Green Party
• Do you associate any of your beliefs with their
  ideals?