Chapter
8: Political Parties
Synopsis
Many people equate democracy with the presence of
competitive political organizations. In a democratic
political system, parties have four major functions: (1)
nominating candi-dates for election to public office; (2)
structuring the voting choice in elections; (3) proposing
alternative government programs; and (4) coordinating the
actions of government officials.
Political party activity in the United States has
consistently revolved around two major parties
alternating in power. The Federalists, Democratic
Republicans, and Whigs formed the basis of two-party
systems earlier in our history. Today, the long
traditions of the Democratic party, founded in 1828, and
the Republican party, formed in 1854, virtually close out
the field to any serious challenge from a young, upstart
party.
The balance between the Democrats and Republicans in the
current party system can be usefully analyzed according
to three critical elections. A rough balance of
power between the parties followed the election of 1860.
The election of 1896 led to the Republicans' emergence as
the majority party. The election of 1932 led to a
majority of voters identifying themselves as Democrats,
which has continued to the present day.
Minority parties fall into four categories: (1) bolter
parties, which are split-off factions from a major party;
(2) farmer-labor parties, which have a populist,
working-class orientation; (3) parties of ideological
protest, such as the Socialist and Libertarian parties;
and (4) single-issue parties, such as the Prohibition
party. Minority parties on the whole have not been strong
vote getters, but they have had some success as policy
advocates. They also serve as a political safety valve by
giving discontented groups the opportunity to air their
policy views.
Party identification, a state of mind or
psychological attachment to a political party, should be
distinguished from voting, which is a behavior. Most
Americans readily identify with one of the two political
parties, and this predisposition is the most important
long-term force affecting U.S. elections. Short-term
factors, however‹such as candidate attri-butes and
policy positions‹may lead a voter to abandon his or
her party's nominee and vote instead for a candidate of
the opposing party.
Although both the Democrats and the Republicans support
the concept of capitalism, there is a definite
ideological gap between government roles favored by the
parties. In particular, Democrat activists are likely to
be liberals or moderates, whereas Republicans are more
inclined toward conservatism.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats have a hierarchical
party structure, and the national party has little
control over decentralized state and local election
campaigns. The candidate nomination process in American
party politics, unlike other party systems in the world,
centers on election rather than selection by party
leaders.
Return
to Top ©1998 by
Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
|
Synopsis |
|
|
-
|
|
Crosstabs