AP United States Government and Politics

Reading Assignment

Chapter 9: Political Parties

Objectives: 1. Define the term political party and contrast the structures of European and American parties, paying

particular attention to the federal structure of the U.S. system and the concept of party identification.

2. Trace the development of the U.S. party system through its four periods. Explain why parties have been in decline since the New Deal.

3. Describe the structure of a major party. Distinguish major from minor parties. 4. Indicate whether there are major differences between the parties. Describe some of the issue

differences between delegates at Democratic and Republican conventions, and compare their policy positions with those of rank-and-file party members.

Discussion Questions: Correlates with “Theme A: Party Structure Today” 1. Consider the five types of local political party organizations that the text lists. What advantages and

disadvantages does each type have? Rank the five types according to whether they can:

Introduce needed political reforms

Successfully assemble enough power to govern effectively

Induce a broad cross-section of society to participate

Avoid corruption

Give the voters a reasonable choice of policy makers and policies

Allow the voters to hold politicians responsible for the success or failure of their policies

Rejuvenate the political process by allowing “outsiders” in Are some types of parties more likely to be stronger and more electorally successful than others? Under what circumstances should each type of party, with its virtues and disadvantages, be established? Abolished?

2. The national political parties have little control over the behavior of their members or of the candidates representing them. For example, David Duke—a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan—entered the Louisiana legislature as a Republican despite radio broadcasts by President Reagan calling for his defeat. How is the political system hurt by the loose organization of political parties?

3. Over time, the influence of party delegates has caused each of the major parties to become more ideological, and thus more polarized from one another. A review of the party platforms, for example, reveals positional statements that would be considered extreme by mainstream Americans. Might this be the cause of declining party membership? Is there a way to keep the political parties from being overly influenced by these ideologues?

4. Do political parties have any incentives to offer to members to keep them interested and actively involved in local, state, and national affairs? Should they reintroduce a modified patronage system to reward active party members for their loyalty and commitment?

AP United States Government and Politics

Correlates with “Theme B: United States Parties as Broad Coalitions” 5. Democratic politics always requires a majority coalition to win. In the United States, the coalition is

formed before an election, in the makeup of political parties. In European multiparty systems, the coalition is formed after the election, when a political leader bargains for the support of other parties to form a voting coalition of a majority of seats in parliament. What difference might it make whether the coalition is together before or after the election? Which system allows the most meaningful elections? Which allows citizens to express their attitudes best in the polling booth? Which most effectively allows citizens to hold politicians accountable for what they do?

6. Why do some voters believe that it is illogical to vote for a party other than one of the two major ones? What did former Democrats gain when they voted for the Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in 2000? What did voters gain when they defected from both major parties and supported Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996?

7. In 1998, Jesse Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota, having run on the Reform Party ticket. Ventura was a former professional wrestler, actor, and radio talk show host; he served as mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota’s sixth largest city, from 1991 to 1995. At the time of his election, it was thought that the Reform Party, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot, might have an opportunity to challenge the dominance of the Democratic and Republican parties at the state and local levels. However, in 2000, in the middle of his gubernatorial term, Ventura left the Reform Party over partisan differences and joined the Independence Party of Minnesota. Does this historical example suggest that minor parties can be successful in electoral politics? Or does it highlight the difficulties that candidates face when they stray from major party organizations?

Correlates with “Theme B Abstract: The Two Party System and the Electoral College” 8. Review each of the above critiques, noting that these points can be transformed into support for the

Electoral College. For example, the fact that the Electoral College discriminates against third-party candidates has been viewed by some as integral to sustaining a moderate, two-party electoral system. What other benefits can be found amongst the critiques? Ultimately, does the Electoral College provide the United States with more benefits than costs?

9. Does the Electoral College exaggerate the partisan differences between the Democrats and Republicans? How do the red-versus-blue Electoral College maps oversimplify election outcomes? How might the winner-take-all system affect Republican participation in California, which is predominantly Democratic, or Democratic participation in Utah, which is predominantly Republican? Would dividing Electoral College votes along congressional district lines instead of whole states improve voter participation?

10. Which is more important in establishing legitimacy: a victory in the Electoral College or a victory in the popular vote? Would a close election in the popular vote be more or less problematic than a close election in the Electoral College?

Key Terms: 1. caucus 2. congressional campaign

committee 3. critical or realignment

period 4. ideological party 5. mugwumps (or

progressives)

6. national chairman 7. national committee 8. national convention 9. office-bloc ballot 10. party-column ballot 11. personal following 12. plurality system 13. political machine

14. political party 15. solidary incentive 16. split ticket 17. sponsored party 18. straight ticket 19. superdelegate 20. two-party system

AP United States Government and Politics

Chapter Outline: