Electing Leaders: Political Parties Chapter Ten, Section One

The Role of Political Parties A political party is a group of citizens with similar views on public issues who work to put their ideas into effective government action. One job of political parties is to nominate, or select, candidates to run for political office. Each political party has their own position on political issues. Political spectrum refers to this range of differences in such political views between parties.

Two-Party System The United States today has a two-party system, which means that they have two main political parties Democratic Party- is generally said to be more liberal. – It favors a greater role for the federal government in providing social programs. Republican Party- is generally said to be more conservative. – In contrast, it generally favors social programs to be created and run by the state and local governments or nongovernmental organizations.

Advantages of the Two-Party System DESCRIBE TWO advantages of the two-party system.

Two-Party System: Advantages Since each party is trying to attract as many voters as possible, both parties tend to offer ideas and policies that are near the center of public opinion. – Neither party wants to offer policies that might be considered too extreme because they know that if they fail to please a majority of voters, those voters may join the other party. This means that government policies are unlikely to change drastically in a short period of time.

Multiparty Systems A multiparty system is one in which there are more than two strong political parties, which often means that no single party can win a majority of the votes. Several European countries have multiparty systems. Often times, in order to create a functioning government these parties must compromise and work together, or create a coalition. Disadvantage: Often times these coalitions fall apart due to disagreements, which could weaken both the government and the country.

One-Party Governments In one-party governments, a single political party controls the government. – This means that voters have no choice between parties. In this type of government the law normally forbids the formation of any other parties. Governments arising out of such a system are often called dictatorships or totalitarian governments.

Third Parties Despite that the United States has a two-party political system and that the Democrats and Republicans are the dominate parties there are also several third parties. Third parties have greatly influenced national elections despite not winning the election.

Perspectives on Third Parties Do you believe that Democrats and Republicans like or dislike the existence and presence of third parties? WHY or WHY NOT.

Third Parties: Progressive Party 1912, Theodore Roosevelt, organized the Progressive Party, breaking away from the Republican party. – By doing so he took votes away from William Taft and actually helped Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson win the presidency.

Third Parties: Populist Party, 1800’s The Populist Party proposed several new and influential ideas: – Graduated income tax. – An eight-hour workday. – Immigration reform. They also wanted to shift the responsibility of electing Senators from the state legislatures, directly to the people. – As a result the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution was adopted.