Texas Gov Political Parties

in this video video we will talk about political parties in texas so let's get a definition down

political party like-minded individuals and groups that join together to run candidates for

political office you're trying to find people that think like you join together

and put people in positions of power so that they can make decisions that you

like it's not a governmental institution that sounds weird but it's not

it is a it is a generally a private mechanism parties are private entities even though

they try to get power in our government they're not part of

the government nowhere in the constitution our political parties mentioned

so uh they're just uh they're like-minded and they work in and around

and for government but they're not necessarily government institutions

uh one important to uh think thing to think about is that they are simply mechanisms or

uh the the means of achieving power and influence that's that's what they want

they want power that gives them influence in the policy making and then they hopefully get what they

want uh major parties are coalitions of interest groups

that means there are different groups that want specific things that come

together under a larger party the democratic party and the republican party

if you get inside of that party there are many different groups that want different things they want to prioritize

different things maybe they want to prioritize certain economic policies or certain religious policies or certain uh social

policies foreign policy so but you have these different groups that

come together and usually they have the same overarching what they call ideology

which is a guiding theory of how government should work and what government should do

so major parties are a coalition of interest groups minor parties tend to not be they

usually are they have a single issue that they care about which we'll talk about uh in a few minutes

uh party platforms are the statement of goals and guiding

principles of a party every election cycle a political party will put forth their

platform and that's simply their goals that they want to achieve and the principles on

which they base those goals there is a desire as a political party

there's a desire to appeal to as many people as possible without alienating the core membership so you've got your

hardcore republicans you've got your hardcore democrats and other political parties libertarians whatever well every

party wants to grow their party so you have to find ways to appeal to people that aren't already in your party

but you can't offer those people too much or so much

that that appeals to them as it might upset the people that are

already in the party you don't want to alienate your core party membership by trying to change

your philosophy or change your party attitudes or platforms to appeal

to others now um background structure i mentioned before parties political parties are not

mentioned in the constitution uh they're not mentioned in the con u.s

constitution says constitutions i would say constitution they're not mentioned in the u.s

constitution because the founding fathers distrusted political parties they understood people like james

madison understood that eventually people will come together

in groups to try to achieve political power and influence politics which are

basically interest groups and political parties but they didn't want to uh embed them in

the constitution they felt that it was best that they didn't mention them and maybe they

wouldn't grow organically which they did but as i said said factions

inevitably factions are just groups of people with a common purpose factions inevitably will form to

influence government and those will be political parties there's different types of um

groups within political parties uh the first one we were going to talk about is party and the electorate

electorate is just those that vote the electorate in partying the electorate the goal is

to develop a loyal following every political party wants people that follow them blindly that's in a perfect world

they'll believe whatever the party says no matter what they say so uh if you can get that you can tell them

what they want to hear and they will do what you want them to do and what and you will do what they want you to do

because you are telling them what you are going to do if that makes any sense

then there's also party identifiers uh self-identifying members

if you call yourself a republican or you call yourself a democrat you are very

very likely to vote for that party's candidate and you're more likely to donate time

and money so that makes perfect sense if you're not willing to say i'm a republican or i'm a democrat then you're

less likely to always vote that way or donate time and money but if you do

call yourself that if you are a party identifier i am a democrat i am a republican that means you are

pretty much a shoo-in to vote for that party now you're also seeing a recent rise in

those identifying as independents those that don't adhere to either political

party they may lean towards one or the other but they don't necessarily

self-identify in this chart uh it shows generations

and how they uh view this was from 2004 to 2016. so it's

a little bit old but it still probably ties in uh works well today it doesn't

include of course the current uh jenna i mean uh gen z so uh the silent generation that's the

uh the old older generation older than boomer uh generation baby boomer

generation so they'll be the world war ii generation uh in the last looks like they're going by

the last uh 12 years they've alternated to be

up to 2016 to identify first as uh democrats then through 10 and 12 more leaning

towards republican and and then heavily uh republican in the last

you know from 12 for 14 to 16.

so they are more leaning currently and it extends out to 20 and 22 for the most

part most likely republicans uh baby boomer generation uh also tends to vote republican uh

these days but by a less wide margin than the silent generation generation x uh tends

to vote uh democratic more now this is uh across uh

the united states this is not texas so let's keep that in mind texas would all be uh red

if uh if if this uh was done by by this state or according to what texans how texans

vote are identified and then millennials who are the youngest of this group um

by a wide margin identify more with democrats than republicans because democrats blue

or lean blue or lean red which is republican

and that ties into other statistical

anomalies within identification the older you are you tend to be more conservative the younger

you are you tend to be more liberal and that um that makes sense

now you also have party organization um not the people but the but the offices

it's the formal structure of the political party and its leadership uh their job is to year-round coordinate

party behavior uh they're that they they're around even when the election

time is not here because they are out recruiting candidates to run in future

elections they're trying to find people that uh have the same values

uh believe in the same platform and you know have those capabilities that a cam

you want in a in a candidate somebody that's personable maybe somebody that has a lot of money somebody that uh

doesn't mind going and asking people for money um somebody that looks good in front of a

camera whatever so they try to record recruit and support candidates

they're vital the party organization in developing and especially maintaining the party brand a party brand is what we

stand for basically a party is saying this is who we are and this is what we stand for

there are different levels of party organization the lowest level is the precinct level

every county in texas uh has four

is divided into four precincts and a political party that is functioning properly will have a chairman of each

precinct so there should be four precinct chairpersons for each political party within a

county then you'll have a county chairperson that works at the county level

they run the elections locally and they do the geo tv which is get out the vote whenever you see geo tv

that means get out the vote then you have the state level uh

a chairman and a committee that makes decisions and their main job

is fundraising making money raising money and supporting local candidates

supporting those that are running on the county level supporting those that are running for state representatives state

senate and then you have the national level and at that you have the national

committee and the national chair most people that don't pay close attention to politics

do not know who's on the national republican or democratic committee and who the chair of the national republican

or democratic committee is uh now somebody that pays close attention and is a hardcore

member of the political party they might know that but most the average person will not know this person

um on the national level their job is branding and motivation because they

have the money they have access to the media so they have a great capability to be able to

let people know well this is who we are this is what we stand for these are the issues that matter

now we also have party in government these are party identifiers who've been elected so basically the people that won

office as a republican or as a democrat and their job is to achieve the goals of

the party they they were campaigners they were candidates first then they won

now once you win and achieve the seat as a us representative as a governor as

a state senator as a city you know county commissioner whatever now you want to achieve the goals of the party

and you personal goals as well but you want to achieve goals of the party as well

each party within government in the state of texas when you go to the texas state

legislature or the u.s congress the u.s legislature they have conferences or

caucuses depending on what they how they term them republicans usually

call them groups their republican conferences the democrats call them democratic caucuses

they are smaller groups of people like kind of like a subcommittee that set their legislative agenda and

plan tactics for achieving the agenda okay so they're sitting there and they come together as a group and they say

okay we're in office now and we're either a majority in congress or a minority in congress

and based on whether they're majority or minority they have to have a plan to achieve what they want to achieve

and they also elect the party leaders for that session and generally they are two year sessions

uh on the national level uh party leadership you have the house representatives which is the lower level of

of uh congress the leader is the speaker of the house you also have a house majority leader

for the party that is in the majority so if the democrats are in the majority in the house representatives then they

will have this usually have the speaker of the house and they will have a house majority leader

the speaker of the house is elected by the entire house of representatives the majority

leader is elected only by the members of the majority party same with the house minority leader it is only voted on by

members of the minority party or the party that does not have the most persons

in the house representatives and then below them are what's called uh the

majority whips or the minority whips which are basically uh members that are

whose job is to go out and persuade uh the members of their party to vote

how the party leadership wants them to vote i always think of it in terms of trying to whip the party into shape

that a lot kind of makes me remember what a whip is in the senate they don't have an

equivalent of the speaker of the house but they do at the national level have a senate majority leaver majority leader a

senate minority leader and majority and minority whips just like they have in the house and each one

each party has the members in committees and uh and has positions of leadership

in those committees uh and of course if you're a member of the majority party you're more likely to

have a leadership position in the committees of the house representatives or the senate

um now congress house representatives

senate they have a relationship with the executive branch too not just the national level but the state legislature

has a relationship with the governor they have to they have to work together the party that has control of the

executive branch usually has some advantages in congress mainly they can the executive branch can

veto anything the legislature does and that is a good tool to persuade them to do things or not do things that

displease the executive branch the party opposing the executive branch

uses the executive branch as a target as a as a negative target saying

do what we want you know come with us as the minority party the opposing party

of the executive branch because you know you don't want a bunch of people that agree with the governor or

agree with the president

now political parties in texas there are four officially recognized political parties in texas that have

access to the ballot that means that in any given election they can run somebody and don't have to

jump through special hoops that our very very minor party might have to do that is the democratic

party the republican party the libertarian party and the green party

now historically the democratic party has dominated

texas politics of course this was back when the democratic party in texas was a very

conservative party uh texas voted for democratic presidential candidates in

every election from 1848 9 with the exception of 1928

the last democratic president to win texas was in 1976

uh that was jimmy carter the last democratic presidential candidate twin texas was jimmy carter in

1976 so that's almost 40 uh more than 40 years almost 50 years

now now we know civil war and after civil war there was reconstruction with in reconstruction was uh when the

republicans uh the national republicans came down and uh basically militarily occupied texas and

uh implemented republican and elected republican governors

and the um after governor e.j davis in 1874

the only uh governors in texas until 1979 were democrats

okay so every governor after 1874 in texas was a democrat until 1979.

uh now in the 1800s late 1800s and the early

1900s or the 19th and early 20th century the republicans were the progressive

party uh the party that kind of uh wanted to use government for proactive

change and the democrats were the conservative party but that flipped

about the time of the new deal the great depression and the new deal and franklin

roosevelt becoming president so once the new deal became a part of

the government legislation the democrats split nationally

the northerners went with roosevelt and went with the national republican party and became much more progressive

much more liberal the the southern uh democrats

while they remained democrats by name they became very cons they stayed conservative and

maintained conservative values and uh promoted conservative laws within texas

but starting in the 70s the conservative democrats began

shifting over to their what is their id what they might call their ideological home their

conservative home which is the modern republican party and since that has happened uh

republicans have won consistently in texas and since 2003

they've basically dominated all the statewide offices in texas so

the modern texas uh political environment is dominated by

republicans who are conservative uh now let's talk about party

identification basically party identification is support and loyalty to a certain

political party that makes perfect sense now political ideology let's talk about

that i've mentioned that a couple of times already political ideology is a set of principles and ideals about the

purpose and role of government in a society okay what government should do how it should

do it when it should do it so that's ideology now they're the main ideologies or the

predominant ideologies in america are liberalism or also called progressivism

and now these are just basic definitions it's a little more complicated than this but

just if you want to kind of summarize it in an overarching definition these work pretty well so liberalism is uh or

progressives believe government can be useful in proactively solving social and economic problems

so if you see a problem in society be it a social problem an economic problem let's the government can do things they

have the power to do things to fix it so they should consider those things

conservatism is kind of the opposite they want to conserve the status quo they believe

that problems should not be solved by government but instead revolt resolve themselves organically on their own

now this by looking at it through the prism

of these descriptions generally what you will find is those that have are suffering or are

oppressed or not successful under the status quo or how things are going

they tend to be more liberal because if they are not benefiting from the economic system or

if they're being discriminated against or oppressed by the status quo well they think the government should be proactive

in helping to solve that problem they don't like the idea of just sitting around and waiting for it to resolve

itself organically so they tend to be more progressive or more liberal so

oftentimes uh poorer people tend to be more liberal more progressive because

they are poor minority races tend to be more liberal because what they tend to

not have as much power and as much say and oftentimes feel like they are being

discriminated against within society so they think things should change they don't want to sit around and wait of

course the most conservative people are the ones that benefit the most from

uh this status quo or how things are and statistically the most conservative

people in america and in texas uh are white men because white men tend to have

the most positions of power they have the power in government they predominantly have power in business and

education and all those things so they like the power they like that um

that is the status quo they don't want it to change that makes them conservative and then you have a moderates

that are have a blend of liberal and conservative ideas often times you will have people that may be conservative economically

but liberal socially uh those tend to fall into the category of a um of a

libertarian so uh so those are the ideologies liberalism conservatism and moderates

now political socialization all of us

believe what we believe politically and have our ideologies and have our philosophies of how we think the world

should work not because we were born that way it's because we learned it

we learned it and that in the process of learning your ideology your worldview your

political identification is called political socialization and there are many factors that

that shape your your ideology and how you're politically socialized including your family of

course that's number one because you're around them more than anybody so chances are

your political philosophies and ideas are going to reflect very closely your families

then your peers the people you are around all the time that's not family your schools your schools teach you

things about our government they teach you things about our society our

you know the norms of our society so that shapes you

your religion or lack of religion shapes how you view things so your church

or [Music] if you go to church or go to a synagogue or whatever that's going to shape you

and then the media of course that's very important because we are constantly bombarded by media and when i say media

it could be anything it could be you watching the news it could be you watching a television show

or a streaming something on netflix a movie music can

have a have a socializing impact shape the way you think about things

books newspapers basically anything that you absorb

as knowledge or as you know information can impact your um how you view the

world and in turn how you view your you know how the world should work

now partisanship um partisanship is strong and sometimes blind adherence to

a particular party a faction a cause or even a person

so if you you blindly believe anything a party tells you

and i say blindly i mean there are limits to that i think but if you are

very inclined to believe everything your party tells you everything a faction or an interest group tells you everything a

person of power or influence tells you then you are a partisan okay you are a partisan

now the problem with our world today is partisan polarization it's partisan polarization is the degree

to which democrats and republicans have become unwilling to diverge from their

party ideology in order to compromise basically

they the the two parties don't listen to each other anymore especially at the national level you get some compromise at the

local level uh less so at the state level and then very little at the national

level and part of the problem with individuals

regular people voters becoming sucked into this partisan polarization

is media because media today exists in such a way

that you can get inside of what i like to call an ideological bubble and never

get out what that means is you can if you wish you can any newspaper you read

any especially news program on television or any news on the internet

you can always find something excuse me and read something or watch

something that agrees with your preconceived ideas

so you are never challenged in your own beliefs and when you are never challenged you no longer see or even

consider the validity of any other options with regard to policy

or philosophy or anything else part of being a critical thinker is

being challenged in your beliefs and actually objectively looking at things

and deciding well you know maybe i am not right all the time but if you are always watching news or always uh on the

internet and websites that always agree with you and you never actually

look at or consider alternate opinions or points of view well then you

get into that ideological bubble and you become more and more polarized you you

not only just think that the the opposition disagrees with you you might even go to the extent to think the

opposition is evil or that they are they don't have the best interests of the

country in mind they're not the loyal opposition they're the traitorous opposition and that is a very dangerous dangerous

thing for a democracy one of the one of the primary

necessities of a functioning democracy is that the the two major sides in the democracy

must accept the fact that uh that they both are uh

it's called the loyal opposition we oppose each other we may oppose each other greatly as far as what we think is

right for the country or what economic policy or what social policy we disagree completely but we know that we are both

loyal to the united states of america and we are both loyal to the the idea of

this country prospering we just see it prospering in different ways

and the ideological bubble that has been created with the internet and with cable news and

has changed that to where now we've devolved into this

this nation where we distrust our very neighbors simply because of how they think politically and it's a dangerous

dangerous thing uh party identification in texas um

political party texas voters self-identify with uh republicans 40

democrats 25 independents 29 and third party candidates or third

parties such as libertarian or green party or something like that about six percent

now we always talk about democrats and republicans but take a look at that purple slice take a look at that number

of independents that identify in texas those are people that they may lean one

way for a while but generally because they call themselves independence they're willing

to change their vote they're likely to actually be one of those people that

looks to both parties looks to both ideologies and say to themselves hmm

maybe you know this alternative is better for this election instead of the

the party that i've voted for in the past and so the key especially for democrats because they're the ones that

are way behind in texas they will they need to do their best to appeal to

independents in order to become relevant again

and then like i said third-party movements in texas historically uh that we've had them around uh one of the

first important ones in the in texas especially but it was a nationwide third party was uh la raza unida or the united

race party and it was spearheaded by hispanic americans that were dissatisfied with the democratic party

in the 1970s they felt like that they were ignoring the concerns

of the hispanic american population so they created their own party uh and it was a while they didn't win any

nationwide elections or even any statewide elections they were very influential because

you know it was a it was important enough and there was enough members that the major parties wanted their votes so

they would try to appeal to them the green party of texas promotes grassroots democracy social justice ecological

wisdom peace and non-violence they're actually more liberal into the i guess you would

call it to the left of the democratic party and in the libertarian party of texas

they believe in limited government and i talked about this before fiscal conservatives and social liberals

uh generally the republican party is made up of uh fiscal conservatives and

social conservatives uh they think the government shouldn't really say a whole lot or tell people what to do

financially or fiscally in the economy but they can

conservative republicans tend to be very comfortable with telling uh people you know morally how they

should live their lives in in placing standards to how people should live their lives now um

libertarians they they're on board with that uh fiscally

but they tend to be less um concerned with how people live their individual

lives socially than uh republicans

other political and social movements uh these are still around they were more predominant in uh

you know decades ago or so but the the impact of them is still is around that is the occupy

movement uh occupy movement is a protest against the influence of big corporations and wall

street on american politics and then of course uh the tea party which is a republican faction of

anti-tax anti-business regulation people that tend to you tend to find

them in the republican party