1. AP Gov: Chapter 7 Political Parties

2. Political Parties—Here and Abroad
A political party is a group that seeks to elect candidates to a public office by supplying them with a party identification by which they are known to the electorate.
Political parties are found in three arenas: a label in the minds of the voters, an organization that recruits and campaigns, and a set of leaders who try to organize and control branches of government.
In Europe, the only way a person can become a candidate is if they are nominated by party leaders. Campaigns are run by the party, not the candidate.
American political parties have become weaker in all three arenas. There have been an increase in the number of people saying they are independent or unaffiliated.

3. Broad Appeal
To win elections in the United States, political parties must be “broad based.”
The party platform, a statement about their positions on the issues, must appeal to a wide segment of the voting population.

4. Party Loyalty?
Political parties in the United States are too decentralized for either party to take a national position and then enforce it at the state and local level. We do not have a “responsible party system”.
There is no mechanism for a party to discipline officeholders and ensure cohesion in policymaking.
In a primary election, do party leaders have control as to who will run?
So are all Republicans/Democrats committed to its program?

5. The Rise & Decline of the Political Party
Our nation began without political parties—the founders opposed them and viewed them as factions.
The first organized political party was made up of followers of Jefferson in the 1790s. They called themselves Republicans, while followers of Hamilton called themselves Federalists.
The Civil War changed political parties: those who supported the Union became Republicans, and those who supported the Confederacy became Democrats.
This split meant most states became one-party states. Further, competition for office at the state level became a competition within the party.
Beginning in the 1900s, progressives began to push measures which would abolish political parties. They favored primaries over nominating conventions and nonpartisan elections at the city level.
These measures reduced political corruption and “boss rule.”
Much of New England was strongly Federalist, much of the South was strongly Republican.
Two major factions emerged within the Republican party: the “stalwarts,” or the Old Guard, were the party regulars, professional politicians, those interested in developing party loyalty and acquiring and dispensing patronage. Their biggest interest was winning. The “mugwumps,” or the Progressives, opposed a heavy emphasis on patronage, disliked the political machine, and wanted to see the party take new, sometimes unpopular stances on issues.

6. The National Party Structure Today
On paper, the Democratic and Republican parties are similar:
Both have national conventions that meet every 4 years to nominate a Presidential candidate.
Both have national committees which manage party affairs between conventions.
Both have a congressional campaign committee in Congress which helps members of the party in Congress to be reelected or to challenge a candidate from the opposition.
Both have national chairmen who are elected by the committee to manage day-to-day work. The sitting President chooses the chair for their party where the committee votes to chose the chair for the party out of power.

7. Differences Between the Parties
In the late 1960s/early 1970s, the Republican party moved to a bureaucratic structure and began to use computerized mailing lists to raise money.
Eventually, Democrats realized Republicans had the right idea and began to emulate them.
The National Committee sets a time and place for the convention and then sets the number of delegates for each state.
DNC gives more delegates to North and West, RNC to South and Southwest. DNC gives extra delegates based on size of state, RNC gives extra delegates based on party loyalty.

8. State and Local Parties
In every state, there is a Democratic and Republican party organized under state law.
A political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership control over member activity.
The abuses of the political machine have been well known. Gradually, things like civil service reforms and the Hatch Act curtailed the abuse.
The opposite of the political machine is the ideological party, which values principles above all else.
Members of solidary groups are influenced by solidary incentives, or social rewards.
Sponsored parties are created or sustained by another organization. These are uncommon in the U.S.
Because most candidates no longer count on the backing of a machine, they must form a personal following that will work for them during a campaign. This requires an appealing personality, an extensive network, name recognition, and money.
Typically, each consists of a state central committee, county committees, and sometimes city committees.
Political machine incentive examples: money, jobs, favors from the government
The most firmly ideological parties have been the Socialist, Libertarian, and Right-to-Life Parties.

9. State Party Committees
County Party Committees
Municipal Party Committees
Precinct Party Committees
Private Clubs and Organizations

10. The Two-Party System
At the Presidential level, our parties are balanced: between and 2012, Republicans have won 17 elections and Democrats have won 15.
At the state and congressional district levels, it is less even.
Scholars disagree about why the two-party system continues to dominate American life:
The plurality system means that in all elections, the winner is the person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not reach a majority.
Voters make it clear that many believe each party is “better” at different issues, meaning we broadly lump slightly differing ideologies into two big camps.
The type of minor party most likely to endure is an ideological one.
It is surprising that major historical events haven’t led to more minor parties: the civil rights movement and the antiwar movement could have each led to a third party, but didn’t.

11. The Party platform
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Republican National Committee (RNC) are responsible for producing party platforms, statements of party principles and issue positions.
These platforms help guide voters and candidates in knowing where the party stands on important issues.
-- there are many philosophical differences between the parties on many issues: tax policy, labor laws, abortion, gay and lesbian rights, and affirmative action
-- the two party platforms do not show much difference on some issues, ex. support for Israel

12. Party Platforms

13. Third Parties
A third party is one that enters the electoral contests without having a realistic chance of winning an election.
-- at times these parties do affect the outcome of the contest between the two major parties (Ralph Nader in 2000)
Third parties are created for different reasons:
-- they promote certain causes (prohibition) or extreme ideological positions (socialism or libertarianism)
-- they are an offshoot, a splinter group, of a major party (Teddy Roosevelt’s Progressives or Strom Thurmond’s States’ Righters [Dixiecrat])
-- a popular person wants to run who is dissatisfied with the two major parties and is unable to win a major party’s nomination (Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996)

14. Third Parties
Third parties often bring new groups into the electorate and serve as “safety valves” for discontent.
-- Free Soilers were the first anti-slavery party
-- the Progressives and Populists put forth many social reforms
-- American Independent party (George Wallace) focused support for “law and order”
-- Ross Perot focused on the federal deficit
-- Ralph Nader’s Green party focused on the environment
If we had a multi-party system where we have more than one winner in an election (European model [coalition governments]), we would end up with very narrow-based parties (an environmental party, a Roman Catholic party, a union-based party, farmers’ parties, or an African American party).

15. Why We Have a Two-Party System
(Remember we have one winner per election)
Election Results:
Party A 40%
Party B 30% Party A wins as they have the most votes
Party C 20%
Party D 10%
Party D, which received only 10% of the votes tries to make a deal
with one of the other three parties. You incorporate some of my ideas
and I’ll throw my support to you. Also, how difficult would it be for Party D
to raise funds knowing that it is unlikely to win.
So Party D merges and most support Party B, but some support Party C

16. Why We Have a Two-Party System
(Remember we have one winner per election)
Election Results:
Party A 40%
Party B 38% Party A wins as they have the most votes
Party C 22%
Party C, which received only 22% of the votes tries to make a deal
with one of the other two parties. You incorporate some of my ideas
and I’ll throw my support to you. Also, how difficult would it be for Party C
to raise funds knowing that it is unlikely to win.
So Party C merges and most support Party B, but some support Party A
And we end up with two major broad based parties

17. Proportional Representation
(Israel)
N = 120
2013

18. Proportional Representation
(Netherlands)
Votes
Seats
Christian Democrats
Christian Democrats
Socialist
Socialist
People’s
Party
People’s
Party
Labor
Freedom
Party
Freedom
Party
2012

19. Nominating a President
The major parties face two contrary forces:
The desire to win the presidency, which pushes them in the direction of being moderate
The need to keep dissident elements in the party from splitting and creating a third party, which pushes them to compromise in ways that might compromise their standing with moderates