Political Parties Midterm

Washington’s farewell address

spirit of the party is the worst enemy of popular government and warned against forming political parties, advocating for national unity and neutrality in foreign affairs.

party

a group of people organized to nominate a candidate, try to win political power in elections, provide ideas about public policiesand influence government actions.

Aldrich definition of parties

a group that seeks to control government by winning elections and offering candidates for public office.

Party organization

The formal structure of a political party, including its leadership, committees, and affiliates, that organizes election campaigns and coordinates activities to achieve party goals.

Party in electorate

The people- those associated with the party that support its candidates and policy positions but don’t necessarily hold positions of power within the party

Party in government

The elected officials that respond to policy demands of party in electorate and are elected for office, can respond to party’s policy views and strengthen the party

What do parties do

select candidates (elite selection), formulate policy (organize interests), build legislative coalitions (govern), give voters meaningful choices (representation)

—democracy is not possible without parties

Interest groups

can have a major influence on parties, educate voters and elect candidates based on their concerns

Party faction

A group within a party that wants something it isn’t getting from current party leadership, can be more extremist and aims for change from within- think tea party, SFCs

Federalists

Hamilton- champion of new constitution, strong and centralized national government and bank, attracted wealthier Northerners and business owners

Democratic republicans

Jefferson and Madison- warned against powerful government, agrarian Southern support and preferred a weaker federal government out of fear of tyranny- associated with era of good feelings

Whigs

Anti-Jackson, Henry Clay, pro-business party that fractured over slavery

strong on state level but divided over slavery

Democrats

used to have a southern stronghold and less privilged- welcomed immigrants, opposed tariffs, had party machines

Today: young, urban, diverse, pro-welfare and social reform, notable presidents include FDR, JFK, Clinton, Obama

Republicans

began in 1854, pro-business anti-slavery, Northerners, Lincoln, reconstruction, union

Today: lower taxes and reduced govt regulation, strong national defense, traditional social values, notable presidents include Lincoln, Reagan. Trump

election of 1800

key election, tie between Jefferson and Burr that was broken in the House, set a precedent for peaceful transfer of power from federalists to democratic republicans, Adams is defeated

Party realignment

Regular change of dominant party control of government over time, typically widespread and can be abrupt after 1-2 election cycles—in electorate it happens over longer periods of time when ideologies change- think Republican realignment

Bawn 2012

interest groups and activists are key actors and coalition of groups develop common agendas (long coalitions), then they can screen candidates for party nominations based on loyalty to their specific agendas

electoral blind spot

voters are disinformed (potentially purposefully) on detailed party positions, parties can use this to their advantage to move further from the center without upsetting voters

Karol 2016

Parties are institutions with three major transformations:

1. rise of mass parties in mid-19th century (party period)

2. decline and regulation of traditional party machines from the progressive era-1970s

3. revival of parties in more centralized and regulated form since about the 1970s

Disagreements during Constitutional Convention that led to beginning of parties

VA vs NJ plan, 3/5 compromise, creation of checks and balances, controversy over slave trade

-federalists vs antifederalists

-north vs south

-elite control vs popular democracy

Federalist 10

factions are the problem, but also inevitable and you cannot get rid of them if you want to maintain liberty

solution to this is a large republic with a lot of competing small groups so there is no way for tyranny of the majority to occur

Reichley and eras of party systems

first: federalists vs democratic republicans

era of good feelings: Monroe, democratic republicans had a stronghold, there were still factions within this between Adams-Clay republicans (rich northern interests) and Jacksonian democrats (southern agrarian, limited government)

second: whigs vs democrats

Aldrich chapter 3

explanation as to why parties happened:

principle: division of power, national vs state- the great principle

interest: sectional, regional, socioeconomic interests varied

institutional: provided a solution to the social choice problem

stable coalitions consolidate interests and mitigate social choice problem

Jackson

war general, hero of 1812 who was endorsed by Jefferson

principles: strong presidency, common-man politics, laissez faire economy, pro-westward expansion and agrarian populism

Jacksonian democracy

Vote was expanded to most white men, federal government size doubled, there was a spoils and patronage system-1834 nullification crisis

Great triumvirate

Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun

symbolically shaped major us debates by representing different parts of the nation

Republican founding

1854 founded as an anti-slavery coalition of former whigs, independents, and free-soilers

pro-business, pro-tariff, pro-national banks

Lincoln

moderate anti-slavery won the GOP nomination as everyone’s second choice

united the former whigs and free soilers into Republican party

Kansas-Nebraska Act, Lincoln-Douglas debates

Noel 2013

intellectuals pressured elected officials- principle, not politics approach to opposition of slavery because it corrupts the slave owner’s work ethic

previous issue was that lawmakers who had more at stake tried to keep slavery off the agenda, intellectuals didn’t have that pressure

Machine politics

took advantage of immigration and rapid urbanization to give immigrants jobs and housing (federal government and patronage jobs in exchange for loyal votes for democratic candidates- very effective but also corrupt-know Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall in NYC, Plunkitt and ‘honest graft’

Truman got his first political job from a machine

solid south

large one-party voting bloc made up of all southern states, was democratic and then when it disintegrated because of savery republicans appealed to the white evangelicalism and revitalized it- think jim crow south

white primary

system used in southern states to disenfranchise black voters

-democratic primary where only white people could vote

-declared unconstitutional in Smith v Allwright 1944

1924 democratic convention

end of 2/3 majority, cleavages were the most visible with heavy KKK presence, this is where FDR got his start

new deal realignment

landslide democratic victories in 1932, 1936, Black voters shifted from republican to democrat, this laid the foundation for civil rights activism

FDR’s Al Smith speech rose him to power

united southern liberals and northern conservatives, got labor unions involved, new coalition included urban, working, southern Democrats

Eisenhower and desegregation

GOP continued to benefit from party of Lincoln, very much supported civil rights legislation- acts of 1957 and 1960

1948 democratic convention

civil rights plank was adopted, the southerners walked out and the dixiecrats split, traditional southern white loyalty to democratic party was waning

1960s-civil rights era

LBJ was a southern new dealer- supported liberal economic policies, civil rights legislation- this is where he lost the solid south

Nixon and southern strategy

Appealing to disillusioned southern conservatives via subtle appeals to racism, led to Republican victories and further party shift for the south

1994 republican revolution

Gingrich contract with America, historic GOP victory- first time they had bicameral control in 40 years

contract with america: tax cuts, welfare reform, term limits, tougher crime laws

Kuzkiemo and Washington

Democrats lost the south due to civil rights and not the economy

important actors in political realignment

politicians, activists, courts, interest groups, intellectuals

national committees

DNC and RNC

raise money, support candidates of that party through polling, big data, legal

can be dominated by supporters of the incumbent president

function as fundraising and strategy hubs, messaging and branding

how members of national committees are chosen

R- equal number of representatives per state (168 in total)

D-weighted by state’s population- 436 members

Hill committees

DCCC, RCCC

get more candidates of their party elected to congress by either protecting incumbents or pouring money into viable challenger campaigns

PACs

towards a goal, can be leadership (pac based on one person)

PACS can contribute limited, controlled amounts of money directly to a candidate, super pacs cannot contribute directly but can do heavy outside spending

Politico 2021

direction of GOP was unclear after J6, establishment republicans disillusioned from Trump, but they ended up electing a pro-Trump RNC chair (national committees dominated by support for an incumbent president)

How to tell if a state/local party is healthy

organizational capacity, financial strenngth, electoral performance, grassroots strength, relationship with national party internal cohesion

Green, Gawehns

ultra-conservative state legislators are copying national FCs to create state FCs, this shows how state parties can be taken over by factions just like national

What matters in a primary

money, polls, media coverage, issues, momentum

congressional caucuses (1796-1830)

congressional leaders of each party would decide on candidates- considered elitist- ''“king caucus”

old national conventions (1831-1970s)

delegates are controlled by state party leaders, had to try to appeal to everyone so signficant issues were sometimes avoided, this also mean that you would sometimes get an unrepresentative candidate

presidents not renominated at conventions

Pierce

4 VPs that became president:

-John Tyler

-Millard Fillmore

-Andrew Johnson

-Chester Arthur

Convention of 1976

last contested convention between Reagan and Ford, Ford ultimately won but it displayed a shift in the Republican party because it was so contested

1972 McGovern-Fraser Reforms

1968 democratic convention went bad after Hubert Humphrey was nominated who they felt was not representative of the faction of democrats that wanted end to Vietnam war, this led to a lot more transparency requirements in delegate and candidate selection

today’s conventions

more of a crowning ceremony, VP is announced ahead of the convention but is approved. at convention along with the platform

VP nominees

throughout the 1800s VPs were chosen by party conventions and not the presidential nominees themselves, often done to balance tickets, now nominee chooses their own VP

history of primaries-overview

first primary held in 1901 in FL, were traditionally non-binding but put in place by progressive reformers

invisible primary

before the primary starts there is still an elite-centered coordination game where the candidate takes polls, vies for elite donors, media can follow this

momentum in primaries

performing better than journalists and pundits predict earlier on than expected to attract significant positive attention into the primary season, this helps once the primary season starts, front-loading can build momentum

winner takes all

whoever wins the most votes gets all the delegates, it doesn’t matter if it’s a majority

discourages third party candidates who might not be able to beat out whoever gets the most votes

proportional representation

used by democrats right now (15%), delegates are allocated proportionately based on votes a candidate receives in each state, but a candidate must recieve at least 15% to get delegates on their behalf

superdelegates

uncommitted delegates who are automatically sent and often party leaders or elected officials of that party, free to vote for whoever until 2016 when democrats prohibited superdelegates from voting until the second round of voting—can protect the establishment

Reagan revolution

after Nixon, Reagan reinvigorated republican party by appealing to patriotism and more evangelicals through rhetoric

election of 1824

four candidates ran, JQA actually won after election was decided in the house even though he didn’t win electoral or popular vote, Jacksonians called it the ‘corrupt bargain’ because JQA nominated Clay to cabinet, patronage

Noel 2013

long coalitions are developed by a continuous logroll over time that eventually forms parties, can start externally and they are strengthened once the party adopts them by the party’s institution—also note that intellectuals can create coalitions,

early republican party

northern whigs, anti-masons, free soilers who opposed slavery, catalyzed by Kansas-Nebraska act-did not approve of expansion of slavery due to work ethic reason not necessarily civil rights

why did the south have such a stronghold of democrats

white primary, Jim Crow, disenfranchisement laws, any dissenters joined the Whigs, strong agrarian economy dating back to era of good feelings and Jackson

party coal

party coalition

the group in the electorate that makes up the party- can be interest groups, ethnic groups, others that benefit from the party’s ideologies or actions, party coalitions frame policy priorities

election of 1932

major realigning election where FDR won, began new deal which gained support of African Americans, labor unions, urban workers, immigrants