Political Parties basics

1. Political Parties

2. Functions of Political Parties
● Recruit candidates
●Find candidates to run for public
office
● Nominate and support candidates
●Help raise money and run campaigns
through the party organization
● Educate the electorate
●Inform voters about the candidates
and encourage voters to participate

3. ● Organize the government
●Organization of Congress and state
legislatures is based on political party
controls
●Majority vs. minority party
●Political appointments often based on
party affiliation
● Linkage Institution
●Connects people and the government

4. Party Systems
● One-Party System
● Only one party exists or has a chance of
winning
● Membership is usually not voluntary
● Dictatorships
● Two-Party System
● May be several parties, but only 2 major
ones
● General consensus among citizens about
basic principles of gov.
● The two major parties must avoid extremes
in ideology

5. The Two-Party Tradition in America
● Parties not in the Constitution
● GW warned against them
● Madison in #51—beware of factions
● So why do we have this system?
● History—Feds and Anti-Feds
● Electoral system—single-member districts
mean only one representative is chosen
from each district
● Election laws—vary from state to state;
difficult for minor parties to get on the ballot

6. Rise of Political Parties (1789-1800)
● Washington Administration
●Sec. of Treasury Hamilton was a
Federalist; Sec. of State Jefferson
supported strong states’ rights
(Democratic-Republicans)

7. Democratic Domination (1800-1860)
● Jefferson’s Democratic
Republicans dominated until 1824,
when they split into factions
●Jacksonian Democrats and Whigs
●Until 1860, these two factions
dominated American politics

8. Republican Domination (1860-1932)
● Republican Party began as a third
party
● Replaced the Whigs as major
opponent of Democrats
● Elected Lincoln and became the
dominant party
● Also called “Grand Old Party” or
“GOP”

9. Return of the Democrats (1932-1968)
● Great Depression caused new
electoral coalitions to form
● FDR united blacks, city dwellers,
blue-collar workers, Catholics,
Jews, and women to create a new
voting bloc—New Deal Coalition
● FDR elected 4 times
● Only 2 Rep. presidents from 1932
to 1968
● Republicans did not get control of
both houses of Congress until 1994

10. Divided Government (1968-2016)
● Divided gov.—one political party
controls the presidency and another
controls Congress
● Gridlock—parties block each
other’s proposals
● By 2000, gov. divided not just on
party lines, but also ideological
lines
●Blue states vs. red states

11. Assignment
● Create a new political party
●Name of your party
●Reason for founding
●Platform (what issues is your party
concerned about and how do you
plan to address them)
●Goals—state offices, Congress,
presidency?
●Recruitment—create a poster and a
bumper sticker that advertises your
party’s message