US Gov. Ch 5 (Political Parties)

The five duties of political parties

-Choose candidates

-Work to get their candidates selected

-Ensure qualification + goof performance of candidates

-How the party is conducted

-Out-of-power party acts like a watchdog over parties in power

Watchdog

critically monitors other parties and checks for any misconduct

Single-member district

only the one candidate who wins the largest number of votes gets elected to office

National chairperson

leader of a party’s national organization

-chosen after the national convention by the presidential nominee

Ward

local unit in which a city is divided for the election of city council members

National committee

organization in charge of the party’s main nominating event

National convention

an event in which a party formally selects its presidential and VP nominees

Precinct

Smallest unit of election administration

Ideological parties

based on a particular set of political, social and economic beliefs

Examples of ideological parties

-Communist Party

-Libertarian Party

Libertarian party

party that believes in as little government interference as possible

-type of ideological party

Economic protest parties

react to periods of economic discontent

Examples of economic protest parties

-Greenback party

-Populist party

Greenback party

advocated issuance of paper money to farmers and workingclassmen cope with economic hardships; demanded public ownership of railroads, telephone, and telegraph companies

-Type of economic protest party

Populist party

group of disgruntled farmers that risen from farmer movements; advocated for the unlimited coinage of silver

-Type of economic protest party

Single-Issue Parties

focus on a single public policy matter

Examples of single-issue parties

-Free Soil Party

-Know-Nothings

-Right to Life Party

Free Soil Party

opposed the spread of slavery to the west US

-Type of single-issue party

Know Nothings

saw mass immigration as a threat

-Type of single-issue party

Right to Life Party

opposed acts such as abortion and euthanasian

-Tyoe of single-issue party

Examples of splinter parties

-Bull Moose Party

-Dixiecrat Party

Bull Moose Party/Progressive Party

originally a part of the republican party; split under TR

-Type of splinter party

Dixiecrat Party

hardcore Jacksonian democratic party; objected to the civil rights programs the democratic party were starting; believed many federal regulations violated States’ rights

-Type of splinter party

Why is our federalist government considered decentralized?

we have over half a million elective offices distributed all over the country

How do smaller political parties affect the major political parties?

-serve as “spoilers” by pulling votes away from a major party; influences a close election

-calls out issues that the main parties ignore

Republican National Committee (RNC)

seats the party chairperson for each state as well as representatives from various Republican groups and the U.S. territories

Democrat National Committee (DNC)

includes the party chair and vice chairperson from each state, additional party members from the larger states, and up to 75 at large members chosen by the DNC

Plurality

the largest number of votes cast for an elected office; this number does not have to be a majority of all votes cast

Bipartisan

an approach to policy making in which the two major parties find common ground on an issue

Coalition

a temporary alliance of several groups who join to form a working majority in a multiparty system