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Political Parties
Start with a 2013 FRQ question Notes on Chapter 8 – Political Parties Discussion of looming shutdown and
defunding Obamacare – videos and readings Practice FRQ for tomorrow’s quiz - #1 FRQ in
the back of the book Practice Multiple Choice questions
To-Do List
Party Coalitions TodaySource: Authors’ analysis of Pew Research Center polls conducted in January and February 2008.
T8-4
Pick candidates Run campaigns Give cues to voters (educate voters) Articulate policies (party platform) Coordinate policymaking (btwn branches –
Obama wants healthcare – he looks to Dems in Leg. Branch to make it happen)
Quick Review:TASKS of Parties as Linkage Institutions
Decline in Political Parties in Elections
Television has taken away some of the power of political parties Candidates can easily get out their own
message Can directly access voters
No more party machines! No patronage. Today’s parties are more fragmented
Party dealignment People gradually moving away from both
parties
Responsible Party Model
Present and follow clear goals/policies Minority party must say what they
would do if THEY were in power Accept responsibility for government’s
performance
Def: when one party controls the White House and the other party controls one or both houses of Congress
Advantages Check other’s agenda – can’t enact entire
platform Parties have to compromise to get things done
Not a lot of compromise happening in today’s Congress…more to come
Divided Government
Party with the control over the most gov’t offices will have the most influence in determining who gets what, where, when and how.
Carry out the policies created at National Conventions (platforms)
Review Slide from Thursday:Party in Government
Definition: Devoted to or biased in support of a party, group, or cause
Our 113th Congress House: Controlled by Republicans (233 to 200
and 2 vacancies) Senate: Controlled by Democrats (52 to 46 and
2 Indepedents) http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/cong.aspx
Partisans Politics
Fewer Moderates
“Many political observers have lamented the increasing partisanship and dysfunction of Congress. Polarization and the vitriolic politics that it generates have been especially pronounced in the House of Representatives, where the common ground between the parties has vanished as the contingent of independent-minded centrists has disappeared at a remarkable rate in recent decades – from 192 such Representatives in 1972, to 129 in 1992, to just 12 in 2012”
Moderates and Gridlock
“The absence of such moderates willing to work across the aisle is perhaps the most powerful example of how unrepresentative our winner-take-all system of elections has become, as an upcoming FairVote analysis on the disparities between the ideological makeup of the U.S. electorate and the U.S. House will explain”
Moderates and Gridlock
Pros: Expand the political agenda “safety valves” for popular discontent
Cons: Almost never win office We have a winner-take-all system – NOT
proportional to the percentage of votes received Example (page 244 of textbook): party 1 gets
45%, party 2 gets 40% and party 3 gets 15% of votes – Party 1 wins all (even without a majority)
Third Parties
Food stamps article Government defunding Obamacare Government shutdown/budget/debt ceiling
Current Events