Oct 10 – Gov – Political Parties &

Agenda:•Quick-Write•Finish: Political Parties•Notes: Interest Groups

Take out:•Pen/pencil•Notebook

HW: •Read sections 8.6 and 8.7 (277-282)•Upload Ch 8 Study Guide (Sunday - 11:59)

•Section 9.3 (301-306) and complete Ch. 9 Worksheet – BE THOROUGH!!!

Task:

• Jot down as many functions of political parties (your book calls them tasks) as you can remember

What do parties do to…

• In your group, write out what’s involved on a piece of paper.

• What does the process look like?

• Think about what parties (in general) do… not what specific (D/R) parties do What is involved in the process of each of these items?

• Who would be involved?• You may want to draw out a

visual representation to make it easier to follow

• What parties do to…1. Pick Candidates

2. Work to elect candidates

3. Raise and spend Campaign funds

4. Cue voters

5. Educate voters

6. Coordinate policymaking

On a scale of 1 to 10…

1. How important is a party in the process of picking candidates?

2. How important is a party in working to elect candidates?

3. How important is a party in the process of raising and spending campaign funds?

4. How important is a party in giving cues to voters?

5. How important is a party in the process of educating voters?

6. How important is a party in the process of coordinating policymaking?

Political Parties

• Write: What is the overall effect of parties on the political process?

Parties Are:• Group of people with common interests• Goal = control government!• Voters parties = mutually beneficial relationship• Factions?• Linkage institution

Democrats vs Republicans

yp

Generalizations

DEMOCRATS • Lower SEES• Lower Ed & Intellectuals• Minorities• Blue-Collar/Union• Urban • Coastal• Women• Non-Christians• Non Church Goer

REPUBLICANS• Higher SES• Above Avg. Ed (BA & MA)

• WASPs• White Collar• Rural/Suburban• Middle America• Men• Christian• Regular Church Goer

Q: Are Jackson, FDR, Clinton and Kerry all the same because

they’re all Democrats?

• A: No. Because of Party Realignment– Realignment occurs periodically, typically after one

party has been dominant for many years– New issues combined with a crisis persuade large

numbers of voters to shift partiesvoters to shift parties– Shift in voters is not temporary or based on the

personality of a singular candidate– New coalition gains dominant control of the

government (Congress & White House)

Critical Election Theory

• Critical elections are the electoral earthquakes when realignment has occurred– 1800 – Jeffersonian Republicans– 1828 – Jacksonian Democrats– 1860 – Republicans– 1932 – Democrats (FDR’s New Deal Coalition)

• Labor unions, new immigrants, city dwellers,liberals, African Americans, and southern whites

What stands out about the cartoon? What is the point being made? Explain how 1 aspect of our 2-party system leads to the point being

made in the cartoon.

What stands out about this graph? What do you see happening over time? What do you see about the relationship between the blue, red and grey lines?

How can you on explain what is happening in the graph based on what we discussed yesterday about the function of political parties?

Interest Groups

• People with similar policy goals who enter political process to try and achieve those aims BUT don’t run their own candidates for office

• Other goals: Education, Agenda Building, Program Monitoring (watchdog role)

The Problems of Interest Groups

• Same as James Madison defined it over 200 years ago.

Create an open system so groups can participate and counterbalance each other!

• Pluralist theory: Compromise – innumerable groups – These many (plural) groups compete – Lots of access points

• (different branches and levels of government)

Democratic Theory #1 – Pluralist Democracy

Policy is a compromise – many groups get some of what they want!

Democratic Theory #2 – Elite Theory

• A few groups (a minority) dominate most important government decisions.

• Multinational corporations, media conglomerates have all the power.

• Dysfunction – too many groups!

• Result = – too many agencies – conflicting regulations – programs multiply – budgets skyrocket

Democratic Theory #3 – Hyperpluralist