AP GovernmentChapter 9 Part I pgs. 198-204

Essential Questions

• How has America’s two-party system changed, and how does it differ from the party systems of other representative democracies?

• Did the founding fathers think that political parties were a good idea?

A political party is a group of voters, activists, candidates, and office holders who identify with a party label and seek to elect individuals to public office.

What is a Political Party?

PARTIES HERE AND ABROADPgs. 198-201

3 Political Arenas

LABELS•People identify

ORGANIZATION•Recruits and campaigns

LEADERS•Try to organize and control legislative and executive branches

Parties weaker in all 3 areas

Europe U.S.

• Candidates nominated by party leaders

• Campaigns run by the party

• Party workers and funds used

• Party label main way people choose candidate

• Expected to vote and act together with party if elected

• Parties have little control over who gets nominated

• Campaigns run by candidate’s staff

• Party contributes to candidate after Primary

• Party label or ideology may influence who you choose

• Once elected may differ from party

What contributes to party weakness?

• Federal system decentralizes all political authority (including party authority)

• Important decisions made at state and local levels

• Education, land use, public welfare

• Today---more centralized but……….• Closely regulated by state and federal laws

weaken parties

• Winning election to Congress doesn’t mean picking the Executive

Our political culture weakens parties

U.S.• Parties don’t play

important role in daily lives, rarely “join” party

• Parties separate from other parts of our lives

• Social, business, working, cultural lives nonpartisan

• More of us identify as “independents”

Europe• Large #s join, pay dues,

attend meetings• Parties sponsor activities• Parties dominate

organizations (labor unions, youth groups)

Founders disliked Factions (Fed #10)

• Madison warns against power of factions to destroy the country and oppress the citizens.

• Argues in favor of the ratification of the Constitution, demonstrates how federal government under the Constitution will ensure the rights of all while not bowing to the pressures of factions, whether minority or majority.

• Demonstrates danger of factions, proposes ways to remove the causes of factionist beliefs

• Advocates only way to eliminate the factions’ hold on the people is to control the effect• minimize their voice inside the system of a

republic.

Distrust of Parties

• “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”

• G. Washington

•

The Evolution of American Party

• Hamilton and Jefferson, as heads of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist groups respectively, are often considered 'fathers' of the modern party system.

• By 1800, this country had a party system with two major parties that has remained relatively stable ever since.

The Founding

• Jefferson’s followers first political party “Republicans” suggesting • Hamilton’s followers Federalists

• Both loose caucuses of key figures in politics

• Jefferson conciliatory in his inaugural address

• Parties weak- nobody had been “born” into it

• Political participation limited

Jacksonians

• “2nd party system” 1824- to Civil War• More political participation

• Increased population and increased enfranchisement

• Elections became spectacle• Bottom up• Eliminates Caucus system of selecting

presidential candidates• (Jackson/Adams/Clay Caucuses chose 3rd place Clay, then

House chooses Adams for president when nobody got majority of electoral college. Clay becomes Sec. of State)

Jacksonian Reforms

• National party system (Dems & Whigs balanced)

• Greater electorate• Election of 1824 led to changes in

nominating candidates•Caucuses no longer choose candidates

• Party convention invented•First convention 1831

• Allows local control over nominating process

Civil War and Sectionalism

• Deep divide over slavery• Parties could not avoid taking sides

• Modern Republican party began as a third party, becomes major party• Dominates for almost 75 years

• Union/Republicans• Confederacy/Democrats

• Divided government (Rep Exec/Senate, Dem House)

Effect on organization of parties

• Most states become one party states• Republican split

• Stalwarts (party machine, party loyalty, patronage). Election focused & organized.

• Mugwumps (progressive/reformers) opposed to patronage, leery of immigrants, pro “free trade”. Strong in advocacy & principles.

• Trivia: The jocular word mugwump, noted as early as 1832, is from Algonquian (Natick) mugquomp, "important person, kingpin" (from mugumquomp, "war leader")[1] implying that they were "sanctimonious" or "holier-than-thou,"[2] in holding themselves aloof from party politics.

Natural History of Political Parties

Time Period Party of the“left”

Party of the“right”

1789—1823 Republicans- Democrats

(Jeffersonians)

Federalists

1823—1837Multifactionalism-

Parties based on oldparty labels & new

individualAlliances

1837-1857 Democrats Whigs

1857- Present Democrats Republicans

Democrats and Republicans: The Golden Age

• From the presidential elections of 1860 to the present, the same two major parties have contested elections in the United States: Democrats and Republicans.• Reconstruction -- Republican dominance• 1876-1896 -- closely competitive• 1896-1929 -- Republican dominance• 1930s and 1940s -- Democratic dominance• 1950s and 1960s -- closely competitive• 1970-present -- neither party completely

dominant (* Republican ??)

What makes up a Party?

• Parties are composed of committees that • raise campaign funds, • coordinate election activities, • formulate policies, • and recruit members

What is a Party Platform?

• A formal statement of beliefs, opinions, and policy stands tied together by a set of underlying principles based on the party’s ideological orientation.

Where do I belong??

• Party identification is often a voter's central political reference symbol.

• Party identification generally come from one's parents. •However party ID can be affected by a

number of factors such as education, peers, charismatic personalities, cataclysmic events, and intense social issues.

• Thomas Nast came up with the• The jack-a*$ (donkey)

represented Democrats (around 1870)

• An elephant represented Republicans (1874).

• These were NOT meant to be complimentary!

Creation of Party Symbols- Thomas Nast

Different Roles of the Party

• The Party in the Electorate • The Parties at the State Level• The Parties at the National Level

The Basic Structure of American Political Parties

The Party-In-The-Electorate

• The party-in-the-electorate is the mass of potential voters who identify with a specific party.•American voters often identify with

a specific party, but rarely formally belong to it.

State and Local Parties

• At the state level, voters are much more ideological, resulting in larger number of factional splits than at the national level.

• Interparty competition remains relatively high at the state level.

National Parties

• Each national party has a committee of elites who decide national agenda and platforms (RNC, DNC…)

• Most national party members are polarized…left or right• But for parties to survive, they must

focus on the ability to capture the swing voter.

• How can they do it???

Competitive Parties = Close Elections

• A significant trend of recent times is the demise of one-party voting • One party voting means the dominance of

elections in a given region

• One-party dominance among states is declining due to population shifts and increased voter mobility.• The formerly Democratic "Solid South" is

no more - instead solidly Republican with Democrats fighting for seats and power

Loyalty Trends (today)- Democratic

• The Northeast and West tend to vote for Democrats

• Liberals tend to be Democrats • Catholics and Jews are mostly Democrats • Labor union members tend to vote Democratic• Democrats have a lead in garnering the women's

votes• Over 80% of African Americans and Hispanics

vote 3 to 1 Democratic• Young people are more Democratic• The more highly educated vote for Democrats (be

careful here!)• Most blue collar workers and unemployed are

Democrats• The widowed are mostly Democrats

• Conservatives tend to be Republican • Professionals, executives, and white collar workers

tend to be Republican• Chamber of Commerce members tend to vote

Republican!!• The South and Midwest tends to be more

Republican today• Men tend to split fairly evenly between the two

parties, but are more conservative• Cuban Americans are generally Republicans (anti-

Castro) • High status Protestants tend to be Republican• Married couples tend to be Republican

Loyalty Trends (today) - Republican

• Major political groupings that shaped American policy

• Last Important Coalition • The New Deal Coalition…Democrats• Labor, minorities, and socially conscious

individuals voted for FDR in 1932• Became the root of today’s Democratic

party

• New Coalitions today??

Political Coalitions

Why Democrats seem like Republicans and vice versa

• Given declining voter identification, parties attempt to appeal to as much of the electorate as possible. • Parties attempt to “blur” their positions

to discourage opponents. • Declining party identification has

increased the role of interest groups.

A Decline At All Levels

• Voter identification with the two major parties has declined, resulting in an increase in the number of individuals identifying themselves as independents.

• Some voters individuals split their vote between the parties, and occasionally vote for third parties and independent parties

Independent Voters

• The number of independents in the U.S. rose from 19% in 1958 to 37% in 1978

• “Leaners” do feel party affiliations, but choose not to self-identify with a party.

So why do we still have a two-party system?

• The two parties control the primaries and election rules• Set ballot requirements • Set voter registration requirements

• The structure of the Constitution• Election rules -single-member districts

and winner-take-all elections. • Compare with proportional representation in

Parliaments…• There are more inducements to compromise if

you have many parties

Results of a two-party system?

• Fewer and less powerful factions based on ideology, nationalism or religion

• Instead, moderate platforms that appeal to everyone• Is this a good thing?• Or do parties just become watered down

pabulum that we feed to each other?

Minor (or Third) Parties• The US political system locks out potential minor

parties.• Why???

• Only eight third parties have won any electoral votes in a presidential contest.• Only one third party has ever won a presidential election• Do you know what it was???

Third Party Successes

• Minor, or third, parties more successful at the state and local levels than at the national level. • Despite increasing support, minor

parties face a number of institutional barriers to political success.

Important Third-Parties

• 2000 Ralph Nader and Green Party• 1996 and 1992: Ross Perot’s Reform

Party• 1968: George Wallace’s American

Independent Party• 1924: Robert LaFollette’s Progressive Party• 1912: Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party• 1860: The Republican Party** Not considered a third party today!

• 1856: Millard Fillmore's American Party

• Republicans• Conservative Coalition• Neo Cons

• Democrats • New Deal Coalition

• Third Parties• Independents• Moderates• Ticket Splitters• Single People• The Political Elite

Who is in the drivers seat today?

Websites of Major Parties

Major Parties• Democratic National Committee

• www.democrats.org

• Republican National Committee• www.rnc.org

Third Parties• Green Party

• http://www.gp.org

• Libertarian Party• www.lp.org

• Reform Party.• www.reformparty.org

The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, richer and remove the crab grass on your lawn. .

Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and . . . then they get elected and prove it!

-PJ O’Rourke

Is this true??

Wasn’t that fun?!!!