Political+Parties


 * Political Parties**

FYI - This has been modified since yesterday


 * Goals:** After reading this section you should be able to address and/or answer the following:
 * What are political parties? Since they are not in the Constitution, how have they evolved? What do parties do?
 * Why does the United States have a two party system? Why do other countries have multi-party systems?
 * What is a faction? What is a coalition?
 * Be able to answer basic questions about the history of the two party system. What original political disputes led to the formation of the first parties?
 * What did Washington have to say about political parties? What impact did the Alien and Sedition Acts have on American politics?
 * Understand the development and evolution of the Democratic and Republicans Parties. Be able to answer questions about the party eras and the critical elections that separated them.
 * What factions tend to ally with the Democratic and Republican Parties? What positions do each party take on political issues?
 * How many people in the US identify with each party? How many identify as independents?


 * Useful Blog Posts:**
 * [|Democratic Caucus]
 * [|Democrats]
 * [|Divided Government]
 * [|DLC]
 * [|Green Party]
 * [|House Democrats]
 * [|House Republicans]
 * [|Independents]
 * [|Libertarian Party]
 * [|Parties]
 * [|Parties in Congress]
 * [|Party Coalitions]
 * [|Party Cohesion]
 * [|Party Eras]
 * [|Party Identification]
 * [|Party Leaders]
 * [|Party Polarization]
 * [|Republican Study Committee]
 * [|Republicans]
 * [|Responsible Party Model]
 * [|Southern Strategy]
 * [|Unified Government]


 * Terminology**
 * [|political party]
 * [|two party system.]
 * [|Democratic Party.]
 * [|Republican Party.]
 * [|Conservatism in the United States.]
 * [|Liberalism in the United States.]
 * [|the Federalist Party.]
 * [|Alexander Hamilton.]
 * [|the Democrat Republicans.]
 * [|Thomas Jefferson.]
 * [|Democratic Caucus.]
 * [|Republican Conference.]
 * [|divided government.]
 * [|Jacksonian Democracy.]
 * [|political machines.]
 * [|Progressive Era.]
 * [|third parties.]
 * [|fifth party system.]
 * [|realigning election.]


 * What is a Political Party?**

At its simplest, a [|political party] can be defined as a group of individuals that have organized around shared political principles with the intent of winning elections to governmental office and organizing governing institutions once in power. This means that they do a variety of things to that end, including organizing elections and public relations campaigns, managing and influencing the media and organizing governmental institutions -- most notably the legislature -- once in power.

As you most likely know, there are two dominant parties in the United States; the Democrats and Republicans. There are also a variety of smaller parties that are generally uncompetitive and sometimes exist in name only ([|scroll down this page] for a great list of parties in the U.S.). Two parties, the Libertarian and Green Parties, do have committed supporters and can occasionally win local elections, but the winner take all system tends to work against them being truly competitive in the American political system. We covered this point in the previous section on elections, so you shoudl be familar with the idea.

Parties were controversial in the early years of the United States. They were argued by some, notably George Washington, to merely increase the divisiveness in American politics and encourage people to think of the interest of the party over that of the country. But organized parties also troubled the ruling classes in early America because they mobilized the lower classes. But parties also were efective tools in organizing Congress. Since nothing was stated in the Constitution about how Congress was to operate internally, political parties provided that function. They were, in a word, useful. They solved a problem by helping coordinate actions in the legislature. What coudl have been anarchy was given structure as some members organized around the idea that the national government shodul be actively involved in furthering the development of commerce, while others organized to retain the nation's agrarian character.

Political parties have always been one of the more effective mobilizers of the vote, and also can be a driving force on expanding the vote. In addition to organizing the electorate, parties are also effective in coordinating activities between the separated branches. Some argue that without political parties the system of checks and balances would make it impossible for anything to get done. It would also make it impossible for the general population to be able to have any impact on governance because it would be difficult for their votes to have a coordinated impact on government. A large, cohesive and coordinated party would be able to present a solid platform to the voters and if elected implement it effectively. This would place the voters in a position where they could hold the party accountable for the success or failure of their proposals, which of the heart of democracy. Proponents of political parties argue that without parties, democracy falls apart. Others argue that without political parties, and their ongoing efforts to win elections by expanding suffrage, democracy in the United States would have never evolved.

Parties, you can gather, are a bit of a mixed bag.


 * Some History**

We'll beging with a few words on British history. As with most everything else in American politics, the development of political parties in the U.S. has its origins in Britain. After the Glorious Revolution and the establishment of the relative powers of the monarchy and parliement, parties were able to form legally and compete for influence in government. This occured in the early years of the 18th Century during the reign of Quees Anne. A two party system developed featurign the Tories and the Whigs. Simply put, [|the Tories]were those who supported the Stuart Monarchy, and strong executive rule in general, while [|the Whigs]supported legislative power and limited governmental rule. The Whigs' opposition to monarchic rule made them very influential in the North American colonies and helps explain why the name was used by a party in early 19th Century America.

//The Right to Form Parties: Alien and Sedition Acts// Washington famously counseled against the formation of political parties in his [|farewell address]. His principle concern was that the attachments that people gave to the parties would provide people additional reasons to divide into groups and stoke hatred among them. The resulting chaos would bring down the republic and cause people choose a tyrant to impose peace. That's one way to read the speech. The other way is to think of it as a warning against the formation of an opposition party. The country might be best ruled by a single party, the Federalists. Distension perhaps was simply stoked by the increased strength of the Democrat - Republicans. [|The Alien and Sedition Acts]were intended to minimize this possibility by making it illegal to criticize, or bring into contempt and ridicule, the government of the United States, or the occupants of its offices. It also made it easier to deport newly arrived immigrants who gave support to the party. It was passed during the Adams Administration and is largely thought of as a political tactic that backfired. Instead of weakening the opposition it strengthened it. The legislation was not well received and proved to be effective ammunition against Adams who lost the 1800 election to Jefferson.

// Early American Parties // While the North American Colonies enjoyed a degree of consensus in the mid 1770's as war with Britain was beginning, divisions in society still existed and would soon lead to the formation of organized factions. Recall that Madison listed a variety of factions in Federalist #10. Prior to the Second Continental Congress, disputes existed over whether to support revolution. These disputes placed the wealthier interests, the merchants and plantation owners, against revolution because Britain provided the economic and social stability necessary to do business. British financial and military apparatus allowed the basis upon which commerce could occur. Small scale farmers and artisans did not see the need for these institutions. For them, stability was another way to keep them repressed, unable to control their own lives. These division became less important following the Boston Tea Party and the events that followed it.

After the war, the divisions reemerged. The Articles of Confederation was designed to effectively allow the small scale farmers and artisans to control state governments, and under the Articles that meant that they also controlled the country, since there was no national government to speak of. This meant that the interests of the merchants and plantation owners were not being met by the new government. The call for a convention to address the deficiencies of the Articles could be seen as a partisan act since it was led by commercial interests and viewed suspiciously by others. This makes even more sense since the call's ringleader -- Alexander Hamilton -- was the man who would later develop the Federalist party, the party that stood for the interests of the wealthy commercial classes. He was also a fan of strong, practically monarchic, executive power. He also supported limits on state power and restrictions on the ability of the mass public to have a direct impact on policy. Both of which made him a bit of a Tory. Hamilton's successful organizing effort to ratify the Constitution put him and his supporters in a position to win early elections to Congress as well as get Washington elected President.

Once Congress convened the Federalists -- who were simply referred to as pro-administration at this point -- were able to pass laws which provided powers to the executive that were not written into the original Constitution. Hamilton had a special position of authority to push his preferred policies since he was Washington's Secretary of the Treasury. The most important of these were the economic powers granted to the executive following Hamilton's three reports to Congress. As a result, Congress assumed the war time debt of the states, paid full value to the holders of securities issued in war time, created a national bank, and embarked on a series of infrastructure improvements to facilitate commercial transactions. All of these required a loose interpretation of the Constitution -- based on what Hamilton called the implied powers of the document. Hamilton also urged that preference be given to Britain over France in diplomatic and commercial affairs. Opposition to Hamilton's policies came from another member of Washington's cabinet, Thomas Jefferson Secretary of State. His disagreement with Hamilton was in essence philosophical. Jefferson believed that the American Republic should rest on a virtuous population and the best way to guarantee virtue was to ensure that the the population was composed of farmers, people who were fully self sufficient.


 * The Three Faces of Political Parties**.

Parties are very complex, decentralized institutions that serve a variety of functions. It is natural to be confused about precisely what they are. One way to get a handle on this confusion is to look at the three faces of political parties:
 * Parties in the Electorate
 * Parties in the Government
 * Parties as Organizations

Let's think of the two major parties in terms of these three "faces."

1 -- "Parties in the Electorate" refers to the degree to which people, voters specifially, think about and identify with politcal parties. What influence do parties have in the mind of voters? Perhaps the best way to think about this is in terms of party identification. To what degree do people in the electorate identify themselves as Democrats or Republicans, or with either political party? It may be that some people do not think in terms of either party, or even any minor party. They may consider themselves independent. This is an ongoing interest of public opinion pollsters who often ask people to identify themselves as Democrat, Republican or Independent. Doing so properly can be difficult since not everyone who calls themselves independent is in fact independent, but leaving that point aside, pollsters have measured how partisanship has ebbed and flowed over time. Some polls begin the process by first asking people if the identify with either the Democratic or Republican parties or if they consider themselves independent. They then ask the partisans whether they strongly or weakly identify with their preferred party and of the independents whether they are truly independent or if they lean towards one of the two major parties.

The influence of parties in the minds of each voter varies. Strong partisans, no surprise, tend to take cues from party leaders and use the information they get from them to form opinions about people and events. As we will see, this can become complicated because the decentralized nature of parties mean that there are many people that can qualify as a party leader. For example. as of 2010, who can be said to lead the Republican Party? The fact that Democratic and Republican partisans take cues from different leader who are often antaginistic towards each other helps us understand the conflict that exists between these two groups. In many ways they literally live in different worlds. Independents, again no surprise, tend to look elsewhere for political cues and information. The concept of a party is much weaker, or less influential, in their minds.

To get an idea about where party identification is currently, [|click on this link to Pollster.com]. You'll note that most people call themselves independent in this graph (which is accumulation of poll results taken in July 2010), but since there are no truly indepedent candidates, here is a poll which asks respondents to say which [|party's candidates they were likely to vote for in the 2010 House elections]. You'll note that when pressed to state who they were likley to vote for, it seems that many independents opted for the Republican. Being independents, this can always change, but it tells us something about the different data results we can get from various polls depending on what they ask respondents.

Some related terms and concepts:
 * [|party identification.]
 * Partisan
 * Independents
 * [|soccer mom.]
 * [|straight ticket voters.]
 * [|swing voters.]
 * [|Yellow Dog Democrat.]

2 -- The term "Parties in the Government" refers to how the major parties organize governing institutions, especially legislative institutitions. As mentioned above (and a point that will be elaborated on below) parties in the United States developed in Congress and helped organize it internally. Parties are still a defining feature of Congress, currently they are probably the most powerful internal entity within Congress. Members of each chamber are elected as members of a party (with very very few exceptions) and the political party is responsible for assigning them to committees and then pressures them to vote in certain ways on major legislation. The career of members of Congress often depends on how solidly they support their party's agenda, not how well they serve the needs of their constituents. This is because parties can punish members who do not adhere to the party line by making it difficult for the member to provide constituency service.

Since there are only two major parties in Congress (due to the two party system), the House and Senate are divided into a major party and a minor party, the difference simply being that one party holds a majority of the seats while the other holds a minority. There are serious advantages to being the majority party. Not only does the party hold a majority on the general chamber, it also has a majority in each committee and holds the committee chair. The majority is able to set the chamber's agenda and pass legislation, often without significant input by the other side. The only exception to this rule is in the Senate where a supermajority -- 60 out of 100 -- is required to bring bills to a vote. The best the minority can do is to try to stop the majority from passing bills. This requires coherent, collective effort by party members. This what party leaders attempt to do. The effectiveness of a party in Congress is based on the degree to which its members work as a team.

The most important party organizations in the United States Congress are the party caucuses in the House and Senate. This is where party leaders are selected, the party's agenda is set, and general strategy is developed to achieve the party's objectives. The leader of the majority party in the House is generally elected Speaker of the House. It is also where decisions are made about committee assignments and other factors that can help a member effective work for his or her constituency's interests. You can see how each party has the means of controlling its members. A member that attempts to break from the party can be punished by the party, which can make it difficult for that member to get reelected. There are a variety of party positions in Congress, whcih we discuss more in 2302, but they are all geared towards establishing and promoting policy approved by the party and enforcing the internal discipline necessary to achieve common objectives. Parties have become increasingly powerful in recent Congress'. The proof is in the increased number of votes ([|the party unity score]) where a majority on Democrats are on one side of an issue and a majority of Republicans are on the other side ([|click here for 2008 scores]). While some argue that this provides a distinction between members of the two parties, and a more distinct choice for voters, other see this as an indication of gridlock and a further example of why the political process is broken and unable to address the problems faced by the American public.

Beyond the legislature, political parties are also actively involved in presidential elections, and to a lesser extent the selection of judges and Supreme Court Justices. In Texas judges are elected, so parties are actively involved in selecting memebrs of this branch also. This means that parties are in a position to overcome the checks and balances. Recall that checks and balances allow one institution to effectively negate the actions of the other two. Taken to an extreme this can make any action impossible. But when a party can control each of these institutions by placing people within them that are committed to a set of policies, these restrictions can be overcome. When one party controls these institutions, specifically the legislative and executive branches, it is called unified government. When each party controls only one, it is called divided government. There's an ongoing dispute regarding which is better.

Links
 * House Democratic Caucus ([|site], [|wikipedia])
 * House Republican Conference ([|site], [|wikipedia])
 * Senate Democratic Caucus ([|site], [|wikipedia])
 * Senate Republic Conference ([|site], [|wikipedia])
 * Unified Government.
 * [|Party Divisions in the U.S. House of Representatives].
 * [|Party Divisions in the U.S. Senate].
 * [|Divided Government].
 * [|Party Polarization].
 * [|The Decline and Rise of Party Polarization in Congress During the Twentieth Century].

3 -- "Parties as Organizations" refers to the organizational structure of the parties, as well as the function that parties serve in the electoral process. The party organization is responsible for running campaigns and elections, recruiting candidates, fundraising, and establishing and promoting the party's position on issues. This is made more complex by the fact that party organizations exist on the national, state, and local levels. Each has a degree of autonomy from the other and can often come into conflict. The complexity is magnified by the fact that candidates, especially popular ones, have their own organizations -- and political consultants -- that can compete with established party organizations. Here is where we can really come to appreciate the complexity of the American political system. Each of the two major parties has a national organization, with a committee headed by a chairman that attempts to define what the party stands for, but much of what this organization can do is constrained by the 50 state and thousands of local organizations that lie beneath it. This is in addition to the media figures and potential candidates that provide ongoing analysis and commentary meant to raise the profile of their issue poitions and competence. Taken together, the decentralized nature of each party complicates the idea that we simply have a two party system.

It might be best to describe these party organizations from the bottom up. At the smallest level of government are local party clubs, and county and precinct organizations. Local party clubs are informal groups of people who meet as party members either in a particular area, or in service to a particular interest (click here for a list of [|Republican Clubs] and [|Democratic Clubs]in Harris County). These clubs can be important in recruiting volunteers and in providing endorsements for candidates. Practically every county in the United States has a Democratic and Republican organization that helps not only manage party affairs, but conduct and manage elections. The county organization can be considered to be a permanent party organization that provides stability to the party between elections. One of the more important functions they play is to recruit members to be precinct chairs, which are the people who physically manage elections in their precinct (read how the Texas [|Democratic] Party describes the position). Precincts, as you should remember from the previous section, are the basic unit of American politics and are where you go to cast a ballot.

Every two years, immediately after each primary election, a small convention is held at the site of the election. Anyone who voted in the primary can participate in the precinct convention and can introduce resolutions that may be included in the party's platform. This is the temporary party organization, which helps define what the party -- or at least each component of the party -- stands for. During presidential election years, the breakdown between the presidential candidates is translated into delegates, who are then sent up to a convention to be held at either the county level, or state senatorial district, where the process is replicated. Delegates and resolutions are then sent up to a state convention where party business is voted on and a state party platform is hammered out. During presidential election years the state conventions send delegates to a national convention where the process is repeated. A presidential candidate is officialy agreed upon and a national party platform is developed. But here is where problems begin. The presidential candidate that party delegates may select may not necessarily support the party's platform. And there is little the party can do to force the candidate to do so. In addition, given the variation in attitudes in the 50 states, the precise positions of parties in each state can vary. There is an ongoing tug of war within each party for determining what positions the party should hold and what candidates they should support.


 * Democratic National Committee
 * Republican National Committee
 * Texas Democratic Party
 * Texas Republican Party
 * Brazoria Democratic Party
 * Brazoria Republican Party
 * Michael Steele
 * [|Temporary and Permanent Party Organizations in Texas].


 * Coalitions and Factions**

In order to understand the nature of political parties in the United States it is essential to remember how they are conditioned by the winner take all election system. In systems of proportional representation ([|parlimanetary]systems generally) it is easy for a strong organized minority interest to form a competitive political party. Since seats in legislatures are apportioned according to the percentage of the vote received in an election, smaller parties can actually become part of the governing system. Depending on the balance of power, these smaller parties can wield great influence on policy.

In America's winner take all system, as we know from the previous section, smaller parties cannot win elections because only the top vote getter can get elected. This creates an incentive for voters to compromise. Instead of voting for their top choice, if that choice is a minor party, they will be forced to vote for the major party candidate that most closely reflects their interests. That is, if they feel that they can do so. Some voters do not compromise, and this can impact the relative competitiveness of the two major parties. Most do compromise however and over the course of American history this behavior has led to the development of two major parties that encompass a variety of generally complimentary, but sometimes contradictory interests. The two competitive parties can therefore be thought of as [|coalitions]of like-minded [|factions].

The strength of a party often comes down to the size of its coalition and its ability to maintain that coalition over time. When a party loses strength, it is often the result of its losing the support of a faction that may have decided to detach itself from the major parties -- to become independent -- or to switch allegiance to the other party. The fact that U.S. parties are coalitions means that competition is as likely to happen within parties as it is between parties. Recent internal disputes within the Republican Party, between the Tea Party and establishment wings, as well as the effort to remove from the part RINOS -- Republicans in Name Only - are an example.

See: - Wikipedia:
 * [|New Deal Coalition]. This was the collection of groups that elected Franklin Roosevelt and the Democrats in 1932 and defined politics for several decades afterwards. - Wikipedia:
 * [|Reagan Coalition]. This was the collection of groups that elected Ronald Reagan and the Republicans in 1980 and, to some degree, continues to define political competition today.
 * [|political factions.]
 * [|coalitions.]
 * [|Factions in the Democratic Party.]
 * [|Factions in the Republican Party.]
 * RINO


 * National Parties, State Parties and Local Parties**

Partisan competition does not only occur between the major parties, but within them as well. This can make politics confusing, because sometimes the actual behavior of parties can make it difficult to pin point precisely where a party stands on a given issue. Parties do have an organizational structure that establishes which issues a party wants to prioritize and what position it wants to take on them, but this structure operates on the national, state and county level. There can be conflicts between the three levels. Some counties -- such as Harris County -- are especially influential and produce strong candidates for office (both George Bush's for example) and redirect the positions that parties take on issues. Same thing for states. Every state has a Democratic and Republican apparatus. What is important for one state, may not be important to others or to the national party organization. Inter-party conflict often centers on who gets to influence the national party's agenda.

In addition, neither of the two major parties has control over private citizens who identify with them and get involved with the party on the club, county, state or national level. A strong, unified, passionate group can work within a party's structure to dominate, for example, the platform writing process during the party's precinct, county, state, and national conventions. These people can effectively force an issue onto the party that party officials may not want to be saddled with. And over the past several decades, the primary system has allowed individual candidates to establish their own identities, while still retaining a nominal connection with the party. Since candidates can solicit funds on their own, or even fund their own races, party officials have little leverage over these candidates and cannot force them to adhere to positions they prefer. Money talks as they say.

Often a presidential primary election becomes a contest between various factions within a party over which will be able to set the party's agenda for the general election. Finally, party officials have to deal with the fact that some members of their party hold elective office and are involved in the daily business of policy making. They have their own opinions and goals and cannot be controlled by the party. This is especially true of those who hold high office such as the Presidency, the Speaker-ship, or are majority or minority leaders. The two major parties then are internally complex. What seems like a repositioning on issues, is generally the consequence of a shift in power within the party, or the nature of the party's decentralized organization. All of this is a consequence of the requirement that only one position is up for grabs in a particular race. Still, some sense can be made of the arrangement since each party rests on certain basic, vague principles. For Republicans it is individualism, freedom, and tradition. For Democrats most everything can be reduced to equality.

In order to come to terms with the current political landscape, here is a simple outline of the issue and supporter of each party. On economic issues Democrats are more likely to see a role for government in regulating the economy and in providing certain public goods and services while Republicans tend to want these decisions to be made by the marketplace. For example, Democrats support regulations on business and a livable minimum wage. In foreign affairs, Democrats are more likely to seek diplomatic solutions and multilateral military involvement, while Republicans have a tendency to support unilateral military action over diplomatic efforts. An example here would be the decision to go to war in Iraq. And on social issues, Democrats tend to want to allow individuals to decide for themselves how to live their lives -- in terms of behavior -- without interference by government while Republicans are more willing generally to allow government to impose certain standards on people. Same sex marriage is a great example. The groups which tend to (meaning that larger percentages vote for them, not a consensus) identify and vote for the Democrats are social liberals, multi-lateralists, union members, government workers, ethnic minorities, women, the young. Those that tend to identify and vote for Republicans social conservatives, unilateralists -- American exceptionalism, business owners, anglos, older voters.

Political scientists who cover the history of political parties often break the history of parties into distinct periods where a particular relationship between the parties existed. Though there is controversy over where we are now, it is generally accepted that we have had at least six party eras, and that these were separated by a critical election, an election where some factor occurred that disrupted the status quo, and led to a new arrangement. The following are the six distinct periods in American history:
 * Party Eras**

[|First Party System](from 1789 - 1828) [|Second Party System](from 1828 - 1860) [|Third Party System](from 1860 - 1896) [|Fourth Party System](from 1896 - 1932) [|Fifth Party System] (from 1932 - 1968) Sixth Party System (from 1968 - ?)

These are the critical elections which marked the transition from era to the next: [|The Election of 1828]. [|The Election of 1860] [|The Election of 1896]. [|The Election of 1932]. [|The Election of 1968]

A brief summary of each:

**First Party System:** - Dominated by Democrat - Republicans Factions within parties Federalists: Merchants, Plantation owners, New England, Elites, Congregational Church, supporters of England Democrat - Republicans: small scale farmers, westerners, Supporters of France, immigrants Dominant Issues: The Alien and Sedition Acts, The Virgina and Kentucky Resolutions, The power of the national government, the continuity of Hamilton's economic agenda, relations with Britain versus France, internal improvements, trade, western expansion The period between 1789 and 1800 was the formative period of political parties. The groups which had mobilized for and against the ratification of the Constitution form into the Federalist and Democratic-Republicans parties under the influence of, respectively, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. By the time the 1800 election occurred, parties had become part of the political landscape. The Federalist Party lost support following the War of 1812 due to its sympathies with Britain and its attempt to broker a separate peace with Britain which included a possible secession of New England. From 1816-1824, only the Democrat-Republican party ruled. This period was called the Era of Good Feelings. Factions within the party centered on the personalities of Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay led to the party being split in the election of 1828.

**Second Party System:** - Dominated by Democrats Factions within parties Democrats: farmers, agriculture, middle and lower classes, pro-slavery interests, westerners, immigrants, National Republicans, Whigs: people afraid of "King Andrew," upper class elites, financial and commercial interests, could not come to a position on slavery Dominant Issues: The national bank, tariffs, slavery, infrastructure development, western expansion, states rights The elite era of politics ended with the removal of property rights requirements for voting. This expansion helped Andrew Jackson win the presidency in 1828. The election marked the end of the one party rule of the Democrat - Republicans who split in two. Jackson's faction became the Democratic Party -- which is still in existence, while a faction led by Henry Clay became the National Republican Party (later the Whigs and later the Republicans). While the Democrats found traction in a set of issues focused on the interests of agriculture and the west, the Whigs were far looser and less cohesive. They could never come to agreement on the slavery question, and other parties, like the Free Soil Party which opposed slavery, drew away potential members from them. Once the Republican Party was founded, the interests of commerce and abolition came together and won the presidency in 1860.

**Third Party System:** - Even competition between the two parties Factions within Parties Democrats: agriculture, former confederates, southerners, westerners, immigrants, Catholics Republicans: businessmen, shop owners, skilled craftsmen, clerks, professionals, labor, and commercially-oriented farmers, blacks, Protestants Dominant Issues: slavery, states rights, the rights of freed slaves, reconstruction, immigration, prohibition, the gold standard, tariffs, railroads, industrial growth, modernization The Whigs, which had only been a unified force in opposition to Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, decrease in strength and create an opening for new parties based on new issues. The [|American Party], based on opposition to immigration ran competitively in some elections, and a growing temperance movement would eventually lead to the creation of the Prohibition Party. But neither issue caught fire like abolition, which became the driving force behind the creation of the Republican Party. In addition to abolition, the party adopted the pro-business positions developed by the Federalists and Whigs before them. After the Civil War, the Republican Party both solidified itself as the party of industry and earned the support of the newly freed, and soon to be enfranchised, black male. The late 19th Century witnessed the rise of corporations and what became known as the Gilded Age. These corporations earned profits often through monopolistic tactics that harmed small scale farmers. The resentments which built up in this class against the wealthy elites led to the creation of a populist movement, and a Populist Party, which pushed for fundamental changes in the nation's economic system. The most important change was bimetallism, which would make silver, in addition to gold, the basis of currency.

- Dominated by the Republican Party Factions within Parties Democrats: agriculture, southern whites, Protestants Republicans: industry, labor, progressives, ethnic minorities, Catholics Dominant Issues: the need for a banking system, regulation of industry and trusts, the economy, the tariff, unions, child labor, the progressive agenda, racial segregation, woman's suffrage, limits on immigration, isolationism, After the civil war, competition was tight between the two major parties, reflecting an even split between the agrarian and industrial sectors, but this would change over the decades as the migration of people to the cities in search of jobs led to the growth of urban areas at the expanse of rural areas, and the increased political strength of the Republican Party since it represented the interests of industry. There was no great realignment which led to the growth of the party, just an increased number of people in each of the factions it represented. During this system, new issues emerged which altered the relationship between the parties.
 * Fourth Party System**

- Dominated by the Democratic Party Factions within Parties Democrats: Catholics, Jews, African Americans, labor unions, progressive intellectuals, agriculture, white southerners Republicans: Protestants, business owners, isolationists Dominant Issues: the Great Depression, racial segregation, threats from overseas The election of 1932 brought with it one of the more dramatic shifts in power, if not the most dramatic shift in power, in American history. Herbert Hoover had won election in a landslide four years before, but the stock market crash and the general sense that the Hoover Administration cared about business interests and not the people, allowed Democrats to run successfully against him. Democrats had added to their coalition during the preceding years by appealing to the supporters of the Progressive Party. This meant that the party had to transform itself from a party focused on the rural agrarian sector to one that also focused on urban issues, especially the urban poor and workers. They began to support progressive policies like child labor laws, collective bargaining, regulation of industry, old age pensions and medical insurance and medical care. Many of these policies had no chance to pass under Republican rule, but the Great Depression created an opportunity for these policies to be passed. The Securities and Exchange Commission was established, as was Social Security, the National Labor Relations Board and a variety of other measures.
 * Fifth Party System**

- Divided Government Factions within Parties Democrats: Catholics, Jews, African Americans, Latinos, labor unions, progressive intellectuals, agriculture Republicans: Protestants, industry, isolationists, white Southerners, evangelicals Dominant Issues: social liberalism, urban unrest, race, the size of the national government, the role of the military, the budget The election of 1968 was the first in a series where voters responded to significant changes in society and law enacted during the Great Society, which expanded New Deal programs and reoriented them to focus on structural ongoing poverty rather than the temporary poverty that resulted due to the Great Depression several decades before. These policies included Medicare and Medicaid which expanded the size and cost of the national government. It also followed a series of Supreme Court decisions -- Brown v. Board of Education, Griswold v. Conn, Engel v. Vitale, Miranda v. Arizona among them -- that mobilized a conservative movement that had been dormant for several years. The most dramatic policy shift was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which actually put teeth into civil rights policy by allowing people who claimed to have been discriminated against the right to sue discriminators in federal court. The last is most important because it led to a significant realignment between the parties. White Southerners, who had identified with the Democratic Party since its creation, began to shift their support to the Republican Party. First the shift only affected presidential elections -- most notably Reagan's elections in 1980 and 1984. The Reagan Coalition helped peel apart segments of the New Deal Coalition. Southerners continued to support Democratic members of Congress who had attained significant levels of seniority. But eventually, certainly by 1994, their total allegiance shifted to the Republican Party. But Republicans were unable to totally control the federal government, but rather has to share power with a Democratic Party that was still able to hold onto one of the branches of government. When Reagan was president, Democrats continued to control the House of Representatives. When Clinton was president, Republicans controlled Congress. In only 10 of the 40 years between 1968 and 2008 did one party control both elected branches.
 * Sixth Party System**

**Where Are We Now?**

If you will notice, the last four party systems have lasted 36 years. Since these are artificially created systems, based on observations, they can be a bit arbitrary. But since 2004 marked 36 years since the election of 1968, many wondered whether that election would also mark the start of the seventh party system. Republicans had hoped that that would be the case and the election would mark the start of several decades of Republican rule. To so, factions that still identified with the Democratic Party would have to be peeled away, just as the party had done with white Southerners years before. The three that were targeted were Latinos, Catholics and Jews. All three groups tended to vote heavily Democratic, but were judged to be likely to be lured to the Republicans if given reason to do so. Certain policies were adopted to achieve that objective.

Since many Latinos are Catholic, these two groups could be treated together. Catholics tend to be both pro-life and against gay marriage. The push for gay marriage particularly -- in addition to the parties long standing positions against abortion, and the attempt to brand Democrats as "pro-gay" was taken to persuade Catholics to distance themselves from the Democratic Party. Traditionally Catholics had sided with Democrats because they approved the party's positions on eradicating poverty, gay rights and abortion were seen as opportunities to negate that tendency. Stances on the Elian Gonzalez and Terri Schiavo controversies were also taken with this goal in mind. Similarly, increasingly strong positions favoring Israel in Middle East policy was seen as a tactical way to earn the support of the Jewish population.

In 2004, these strategies seemed to be paying off. 43% of Latinos, 52% of Catholics, and 25% of Jews voted for Bush. All of these figures were unusually high. But following the election, the Republican base became focused on illegal immigration and began pushing to aggressively deport illegal aliens and build a fence across the border. Americans with Latino backgrounds felt this was aimed at them as well and began voting with the Democrats again. 31% voted for Obama in 2008. This impacted the Catholic vote as well, who were also concerned about the problems the economic crisis was having on the poor. 45% voted for Obama. The Jewish vote dropped off for Republicans as well, down to 21%. In addition to the financial meltdown, much of the drop off can also be blamed on the growing disenchantment with the war in Iraq.

In both the 2006 and 2008 elections, the Democrats did especially well. In the former election they won back Congress after having lost it in 1994. In 2008, they added to the gains in 2006, in addition to winning the presidency. Dreams of a Republican realignment have not played out as planned.


 * The Parties Today**.

**The Democratic Party** - Platform Issues - Core Supporters - Leadership - [|2008 Democratic Party Platform].

- Platform Issues - Core Supporters - Leadership - [|2008 Republican Party Platform]
 * The Republican Party**

**Past Written Assignments:**

1 - Explain, and critically evaluate, why Washington was opposed to the development of political parties. 2 - Detail very briefly how the Democratic and Republican parties were established and how they evolved over time. 3 - Outline the similarities and difference in the 2008 platforms of the Democratic and Republican parties. 4. Political parties were seen as negative influences on government early in American history. Why? Why did Washington in particular, counsel against them? - [|Washington’s Farewell Address] 5. Detail the early development of political parties. What factors led to their establishment? What personalities and issues were associated with each? - [|the Federalist Party.] - [|Alexander Hamilton.] - [|the Democrat Republicans.] - [|Thomas Jefferson.] 6. Detail the establishment and evolution of the Democratic and Republican Parties. Map out whatever changes may have occurred over their histories - [|History of the Democratic Party] - [|History of the Republican Party] 7. Fully outline the various groups which currently affiliate themselves with each of the two parties, as well as which groups seem to align with neither. What does this suggest lies in the near future for each party's competitiveness? - [|Factions in the Democratic Party.] - [|Factions in the Republican Party.]