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What are political parties?
a group organized to nominate candidates, to try to win political power through elections, and to promote ideas about public policies
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What is a party platform?
the party's statement of its position on the issues - to reflect the preferences of the public
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Has the US had a true two-party system?
yes
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What sorts of obstacles do minor parties face?
- dominant party will establish rules that make it difficult for other parties to get on the ballot
- cannot get federal funding for campaigns until 5% of votes go to them. only refunded until after election
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Know the difference between protest, ideological, single-issue, and splinter parties.
- protest: arise out of a social movement
- ideological: organized around coherent sets of ideas
- single-issue: basically an advocacy group but they run candidates for office
- splinter: when a faction in one of the two major parties bolts to run its own candidate
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Understand the difference between realignment and dealignment.
- realignment: in which a party dominates Amer politics for periods lasting around 30 or 40 years, then gives way to the other major party during a short realigning period as voting coalitions in the country change around
- dealignment: a dominant party declines without another taking its place
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Note the number of different political party eras along with which has been the longest running one (Democrats vs. Republicans) (see figure 9.1)
- 7 different eras
- we are in seventh party era, dems vs reps with the parties at war
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Know what it means to have a divided government.
control of the executive and legislative branches by different political parties
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Know how major parties are organized.
- loose collections of local and state parties, campaign committees, candidates and office holders, and associated interest and advocacy groups that get together every four years to nominate a presidential candidate
- cannot issue orders that get passed down a chain of command
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Are political parties becoming more candidate-centered?
- yes
- to large extent, party organizations are there to help candidates, not order them about
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What are the governing bodies of the parties?
- the national party conventions
- they meet every 4 years to nominate presidential candidates, write party platform and revise party rules
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In terms of public perceptions, understand the difference between liberals and conservatives.
- liberal: favoring an active federal govt, helping citizens with jobs, education, and medical care, supporting a woman's right to choose and protecting civil rights
- conservative: opposing govt activism, supporting business, and opposing abortion and same-sex marriage
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Are there ideological differences between the parties?
yes
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What is a unified government?
control of the executive and legislative branches by the same political party
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Know what leaners are.
people who claim to be independent but consistently favor one party over another
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