Parties

Not mentioned in Constitution

Washington’s warning--farewell address

Madison’s concern--Federal paper #10

History of Political Parties in the U.S.

• Initially, Federalists & Anti-Federalists (Republicans)
• Republicans from 1800-1824
  • Federalists withered away
  • Era of good feeling--coalition
• Election of 1824 caused parties
  • Jackson and Democrats
  • Whigs
• Republican party developed because of slavery issues
• Republicans, Democrats, and sporadic 3rd parties ever since
  • Ross Perot
  • Jessie Ventura

Effects of Political Parties in U.S.

• Benefits of parties
  • Legitimacy of results
  • Responsibility
  • Predictability
• Parties in Legislative Bodies
  • Organization
  • Party discipline
• U.S. two party system
  • U.S. system favors two parties
• Weaker than in other countries
  • More decentralized
  • Separation of powers
• Results of two party system
  • Stability
  • Similarity between parties

Political Systems in Other Countries

• U.S.--Winner-take-all
  • Each House member represents part of a state
  • People vote for candidates, not parties
  • Top vote getter in each election wins
• Example
  • Each of the 435 races
  • Republicans 1,000,001
  • Democrats 1,000,000
• Result
  • 435 Republicans elected
  • 0 Democrats elected
• Prime Minister could be either a Democrat or a Republican
• Israel--Proportional representation
  • Knesset--members represent the entire nation of Israel
  • People vote for parties, not candidates
  • Each party has a prioritized list of candidates
  • 120 seats are awarded in proportion to votes received by each party
  • Knesset selects the Prime Minister
• Example
  • Nationwide voting
  • Republicans 500,000
  • Democrats 400,000
  • Reform 300,000
• Results
  • Republicans 50
  • Democrats 40
  • Reform 30
• The coalition that can get at least 60 votes will pick one of its members as Prime Minister
• A no-confidence vote in the Knesset can result in a new election
• Israel has a "Parliamentary System"

Campaigns

Presidential Campaigns--the sequence of events

• Party building
• Fund raising
  • Federal funds
  • Private funding
    • $2,000 limit from individuals
    • $5,000 limit from political action committees (PACs)

Primaries---Iowa, New Hampshire, Super Tuesday, Western Primary

• Conventions-
  • Delegate selection
  • Platforms
• Media exposure

Final campaign

Other political campaigns

• State and Local
  • Advantage of incumbency
  • Cache County Council

Initiatives

Referendums

Recall

Problems with the Political Process

• Finding good people to run
  • Scrutiny
  • Negative campaigning
• Money
  • Time required for fund raising
• Influence of campaign contributors
• Violations of finance laws
  • Independent expenditures
  • Party building contributions
  • Foreign contributions
• Difficulty in changing the rules
• Superficial campaigns
  • Lack of substance
  • Lack of choice