American Government

1. American Government Political Parties

2. Political Parties & the Founders • Political parties are complicated, important informal institutions of government that are difficult to evaluate in the American context • A. Many of the Founders were profoundly uncomfortable with the notion of parties • 1. they wanted some type of government by consensus where parties would play little in any role • 2. summarized by George Washington in his 1796 farewell address: "Let me warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally." • B. That general distaste for parties has echoed through American history • 1. many Americans equate parties with back room deals, smoke filled rooms, corruption, etc. • 2. it is common to hear both Democrats and Republicans wail against partisanship and to equate following the "party line" with voting against the best interest of the people • 3. Tocqueville concurred: “Parties are an evil inherent in free governments”

3. Parties in Perspective: PoliSci • C. Contrast that with the attitude of most political scientists, who believe that political parties are essential to democracy • 1. E. E. Schattschneider: "political parties created democracy" • 2. His argument  parties form a critical link between the public and the institutions of government • 3. Parties serve to educate, mobilize, crystallize, and organize public opinion, and • 4. to discipline the officials who serve in government • 5. Without parties, politics becomes chaos and democratic politics becomes impossible

4. Parties Defined • A political party  is an organization that seeks to attain political power within a government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns. • Political parties  organizations that seek to elect candidates to public office by supplying them with a label by which they are known to the public • Political parties  mechanism through which voter preferences can be translated into coherent public policy • Notice: • 1. different from interest groups • 2. parties supply the labels; they contest the elections; they structure the public debate — they aggregate

5. Characteristics of Political Parties: 1 Let's place American parties in perspective by considering SIX characteristics that distinguish them. First, there are only two major parties • 1. primarily a function of moderate, unimodal electorate and single member district electoral structure (also electoral college) • 2. structure provides incentive for parties to be large, inclusive, and for composite groups to make deals under the party umbrella, before an election • -contrast with PR systems, where deals are made between parties after an election • -results in coalition governments • 3. one of the results is that "3rd parties" are small and relatively unimportant in U.S.

6. Types of Third Parties Types of 3rd Parties: • -ideological — e.g., Socialists (last longest) • -single issue — e.g., Prohibition (fade with their single issue) • -economic protest — e.g., Populists (fade as economy improves) • -factional — Bull Moose, Dixiecrats (usually single election phenomena) • Generally, minor parties are subsumed by the two major parties, who adopt their ideas

7. Characteristics of Political Parties: 2 Second, parties are decentralized organizations • For most purposes, parties are organized at the state level • National party HQ provides little coordination • Principal purpose of national party is to nominate presidential and VP candidates — only every four years • Generally speaking GOP is more centrally organized than the Democrats

8. Characteristics of Political Parties: 3 & 4 Third, leadership is diffused • power is split between organizational leaders and public office holders • incumbent president names national party leaders Fourth, American parties are less ideological than parties in most other developed countries • Parties are more pragmatic than ideological — seek to win elections first and foremost • a function of our system — both parties seek to appeal to moderate voters in the middle • Less true of party out of power Smaller parties tend to be more homogenous and hence more ideological parties

9. Prominent Theories of Party Competition • One of the most important theories of party competition is the Median Voter Theorem (MVT). • The theorem was first articulated in Duncan Black's 1948 article, "On the Rationale of Group Decision-making" and popularized by Anthony Downs's 1957 book, An Economic Theory of Democracy. • Simply put, the MVT suggests that parties will gravitate towards the center of a unimodal electorate, because victory can only be found in the middle (where the median voter is located). • Parties that locate elsewhere (say, at the extremes) will lose, as voters choose the party closest to them.

10. Parties Gravitate to the Center One possible model; here, if parties A and B want to catch the median voters, they should move to the centre. The red and blue areas represent the voters that A and B expect they have already caught.

11. Characteristics of Political Parties: 5 Fifth, American parties are less responsible than parties in most western democracies • Responsible parties are parties whose elected officials are disciplined, vote a straight party line, and can collectively be held responsible by the public.

12. Characteristics of Political Parties: 6 Sixth, Americans are not committed to party politics • 1. Generally, politics is not as passionate as in other places (see Tocqueville: Americans would rather make money) • 2. Specifically, not as committed to parties • a. social mobility undermines • b. we value independence • c. parties require nothing in exchange for membership

13. What Parties Do What do parties do? • Generally speaking, primary purpose is to facilitate government • 1. party in power — staffs government, controls policy • 2. party out of power — loyal opposition, offers an alternative • Fulfill this purpose at three levels • 1. party in the electorate • 2. party as organization • 3. party in government

14. Party in the Electorate Party in the electorate performs three functions: • 1. provide an identification • 2. socializes the population • a. educates voters about issues and candidates • b. motivates and mobilizes participants to turn out and vote • 3. channels the political energies of the population • a. parties help guide and focus a messy, multi-faceted political process • b. parties help people make sense of politics by • -serving as an economizing device — vote on the basis of party ID, less need to collect other information (people are “cognitive misers”) • -serving as a perceptual screen — they screen out some information, lower cognitive dissonance, makes action easier • In sum, help the people articulate their core interests

15. Party as Organization Party as organization helps with the nomination and election of candidates • 1. recruit potential candidates • 2. serve as a cue giver to the public • A label to rally around • A signal-giver on important issues of the day • 3. provide resources

16. Party in Government Party in government performs two basic functions • 1. Organize governmental machinery when in the majority • a. staff the leadership of Congress • b. fill posts in the executive branch • c. fill vacancies in the judicial branch • 2. Serves as loyal opposition when in the minority • a. watches the majority to keep it honest • b. provides the public with an alternative ready to take power

17. Parties in American History The history of political progress in the U.S. is largely the history of partisan change • The "mainsprings" of political development are realignments • Loosely defined as events that result in the emergence of a new majority party, or in the reshuffling of coalitions with-in parties to change the nature of the majority party • There have been five in American history • Each has been associated with major changes in policy

18. Realignments: What & Why Party realignments • 1. Definition: sharp, lasting shift in the popular coalition supporting one or both parties • 2. Occurrences: change in issues that distinguish the parties, so supporting voters change • Often characterized by a “critical election” where majority party looses a substantial number of seats and control of government • There have been 5 major “party systems”…each precipitated by a realignment (though not necessarily a critical election). Types: • 1. Major party disappears and new party emerges (1800,1860) • 2. Voters shift from one party to another (1896, 1932)