1. Political Parties Is the Republican Party conservative enough? SUPPORT: As the Tea Party movement has advocated, Republicans must return to their conservative roots on economic issues. Americans are starting to rebel against big government; and if Republicans d on’t stand for true conservatism, these Americans won’t have anyone to vote for. OPPOSE: The Republicans must break with the ultra-right and stop antagonizing the very people they need to form a majority. If voters conclude that Republicans see large numbers of their fellow Americans as “the enemy,” the party will lose future elections. What do you think?

2. The First Political Parties The Federalists and the Anti-Federalists were formed even before the Constitution was ratified. The Federalists pushed for ratification because they wanted a stronger national (Federal) government. The Anti-Federalists argued against ratification; they supported states’ rights and feared a too-powerful national (Federal) government.

3. Today's Political Parties Democrats- liberal, want more government services, like providing healthcare, financial aid, food stamps, unemployment. All this costs money, so they tend to support higher taxes, particularly on the rich Republicans- conservative, want smaller government with fewer taxes. Believe in fewer government programs and less restrictions on business

4. Red States versus Blue States Beginning with the presidential elections of 2000, the press has made much of the supposed cultural differences between the “blue” states that vote for the Democratic candidate, and the “red” states that vote for the Republican. 2008 Presidential Election Results

5. Red States versus Blue States (cont’d) In this map of Ohio from the 2008 elections, most of Ohio is red, because McCain carried almost all of the rural parts of the state. The Obama counties had larger populations—the more urban the county, the more likely it was to vote Democratic.

6. Electoral System As discussed earlier, due to the, all or nothing system, none of the electoral votes went to McCain. All 23 electoral votes went to Obama.

7. Realignment, Dealignment For a major realignment to take place, a large number of voters must conclude that their party is no longer capable of representing their interests and ideals. Independent voters- click on and read the link. http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05- 17/opinions/35455138_1_independent-voters- voters-and-candidates-partisan-appeals http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05- 17/opinions/35455138_1_independent-voters- voters-and-candidates-partisan-appeals

8. Role of the Party A party is responsible to helping to select candidates that they wan to run for office. The party helps to get them money, form a strategy do research and polling, advertise, etc. The political party also to develop the policy strategy The party as a whole, has a platform of issues they believe are important. Republican issues- http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05- 17/opinions/35455138_1_independent-voters-voters-and- candidates-partisan-appealshttp://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05- 17/opinions/35455138_1_independent-voters-voters-and- candidates-partisan-appeals Democrat issues- http://www.democrats.org/ click on individual issueshttp://www.democrats.org/

9. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2012/quiz / http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2012/quiz / Take the poll above. Find out which political party you fall under. Click around to find out how you compare by race, sex, age to other members in your political party. Write about your reaction to this on the discussion board