political parties

how society should work, social order. Used to inform political platform 

Political Platform - a statement of a party’s beliefs/ideologies. Used to garner support

Plank - a party’s stance on a particular issue (platforms made of planks)

Plurality - winning an election by having the most votes instead of a majority 

Constituent - anyone that represents a party in any way

Functions of Political Parties 

1. Nominating - Parties nominate candidates to represent their party, get elected, and control the government for them. To nominate good candidates, they need to be vetted, background checked for anything that could be used against them. Obscenities, hypocrisies, past voting records, family. 
2. Informer / Stimulator - Informs the people of their goals, their platforms and planks. Used to try to garner support and with that support, be able to control government. Participation in citizenship is encouraged by allowing volunteers to canvass swing voters.
3. Government - provide leadership by carrying out public policies. Getting bills passed that reflect their beliefs/principles is what is productive
4. Watchdog - parties not in power hold other parties accountable by pointing out unfulfilled roles, unfulfilled promises. 

Major Parties 

• Defined by a larger political platform (more planks) that embody a larger demographic 

Minor Parties

• Defined by a smaller political platform (possibly just one plank) and barely any chance to win elections. 

  • Results in votes for minor parties becoming wasted votes 

• Goal: Make major parties adopt their same stances 

• May also create a spoiler role, steals votes from a major party in a close election 

  • Minor party cannot be centrist to have a spoiler role

• Only in two-party systems

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Three Types of Political Party Systems 

• One party system 
  • Authoritarian/Dictatorships typically
  • Easy elections but no choice for the people 
  • Can have more than one party, but if one party keeps winning 
• Two party system 
  • Streamlined multi-party system
  • Stable and easy voting but minor parties get no representation 
  • Minor parties exist but never win
• Multi-party system 
  • Most popular system in democracies 
  • Wide variety of interests/beliefs but majorities almost never attained-
  • So coalitions, confederacy-like, have to be formed to attain the majority. Also like confederacies, they are unstable and don’t last a long time since political parties will naturally have differences in their platforms. 

Political Parties in the U.S

The U.S’s two major parties are 

• Democratic Party (left)
  • Embodies liberal views
  • Wants less government regulatioPolitical Parties 
  • Political Party - group of people bonded by common ideologies/beliefs with a goal to control government (through elections) 
  • Political Ideologies - a set of principles that offer n on social issues
  • Wants more government regulation on economic issues
• Republican Party (right)
  • Embodies conservative views
  • Wants more government regulation on social issues 
  • Wants less government regulation on economic issues

How do people choose how to vote/gain their political ideologies? 

• Party Line Voting - voting only based on affiliated party 

• Name Recognition - support from hearing ones name before researching campaign

• Political Socialization - Factors that influence political ideologies in people 

  • Family
  • Demographic Groups 
  • Education
  • Political Environment 

• Media 

Why does the United States have a two-party system?

• Tradition 
  • Anti-feds and feds have established two major parties for all of history 
• Electoral College 
  • Encourages a winner-take-all system; minor parties have to win plurality to get any votes at all
  • Minor parties could start gaining power if states elect to have proportional representation instead of winner-take all
• Beliefs 
  • average americans aren’t too politically diverse in views 
  • two major parties encompass a wide range of beliefs.

Elections

Election Season 

1. Candidates announce running for president 

• About a year and a half before general election 

1. Primary debates 

• October/November 
• Incumbent party doesn’t have to debate if they are running for re-election 

1. Primaries and Caucuses 

• January-June

1. Conventions 

• July
• Usually held in swing states

1. Presidential Debates

• Aug-October 
• 3 debates

1. Election Day 

• First Tuesday after first monday in november 
• Popular vote / embodies popular sovereignty 

1. Electoral College casts votes 

• First monday after second wednesday in december 
• Electoral votes / federalism

1. Electoral votes counted 

• Did miss trainer say anything for this

1. Inauguration Day 

• January 20th 

Voting in the U.S 

Voting Registration 

• Requirements to vote 
  • Have to be 18 
  • Have to have citizenship 
  • Can’t be a felon
  • Can’t be mentally unsound

States rule all voting procedures/laws from here on out

• Proof that you live in a state is needed to vote. This is achieved by: 
  • Photo identification - which is required by a few states. This 
  • oppresses poc/poor people because they are less likely to have photo I.D.
  • Anything that has your address and name. Works for most states
• Voting registration is becoming more accessible because of: 
  • Motor Voter - you can register to vote when you apply/renew drivers license 
  • Online Registration 

Four methods of voting 

• Early voting - vote before election day 
  • Advantages: alleviates pressure of election day. Shorter lines, more time to count votes, people not available on election day vote here, etc. 
  • Disadvantages: more limited than poll voting, less locations. 
• Absentee voting - sending your ballot through the mail 
  • Exact same as mail-in voting except 
  • Absentee needs to be requested and is used more often 
• Mail-in voting - also sending your ballot through the mail 
  • Advantages: the most accessible voting method 
  • Disadvantages:
  • Postal service can be annoying + unreliable 
  • Susceptible to fraud 
  • Some states just dont use it
• Poll voting - normal voting on election day 
  • Advantages: lots of locations 
  • Disadvantages: election day is stressful. See disadvantages of early voting 

Purging 

• Purge people who registered to vote to keep data correct and current. But will

  • Disenfranchise people if not informing people of purge. Southern states zo zis

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Nominating (Primaries, Caucuses, Conventions)

Before the general election for President happens, potential candidates from both parties need to be culled down to just one in each party. This is done through primaries and caucuses. 

• Primary - Voting similar to the general election for your favorite candidate 

  • Advantages
  • Can handle lots of people 
  • Private 
  • Quick 
  • Disadvantages NO
  • Not as lively/entertaining as caucuses 

• Caucus - go into a public place and vote by a head count

  • Advantages 
  • Engagement for voters 
  • Disadvantages 
  • Intrusive, not secretive 
  • Time consuming 

•  Convention - National party committee holds an event to formally nominate candidates

  • Primaries/caucuses already establish who is the candidate, conventions act as a celebration

• Petitioning - used by minor parties to nominate candidates 

  • Getting minor party candidates on the ballot by showing a petition of support. Proves viability

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Benefits and disadvantages of primaries/caucuses

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Benefits: 

• Primaries empower the people 
• Can show parties early on which candidate is most popular 
  • Other candidates can drop out early bc campaigns expensive

Disadvantages: 

• Primaries cause candidates to drop out early, last in lunch line 

• Primaries have low voter turnout

  • The people who do show up to primaries are radicals/extremists

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Electoral College 

• The Electoral College is a system used in the general election in place of popular vote
• The presidential candidate that receives the most electoral votes becomes president 
• Each state has a set amount of electoral votes, whoever wins popular vote gets them
  • The amount of electoral votes a state has is dependent on the amount of districts the state has, or in other words, population. A state can have 3 votes minimum
  • There are 538 electoral votes total, 435 HoR, 100 senate, 3 Washington D.C
• Electoral votes are casted by electors, who can be anyone who proves to hardcore support a certain party
  • Faithless electors exist, who will vote against the popular vote. Most states have laws against this 
• Most states give all their votes to whoever wins popular vote, some use proportional rep. 
  • Proportional representation - Whoever wins popular vote in the whole state gets the two senate votes, whoever wins the district gets one vote for that district
• If there is a tie, the house of representatives vote but there is one vote per state. 26 votes to win.
• The electoral college makes elections almost entirely prioritizing swing states, states that could swing in any direction, republican or democrat.
  • Common swing states are Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Maine, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Colorado, Nevada

Advantages and Disadvantages 

• Advantages 
  • It encourages the two-party system, which makes for easier voting
  • More power to the states, who can choose the president with electoral college
• Disadvantages
  • Sometimes fails the popular view, president can win without popular vote 
  • Faithless electors exist, as mentioned before. So dumb
  • Can depress voter turnout. Why vote in a state that you know is already decided 
  • Unequal distribution of votes, Delaware voters are 1.9x more valuable than Cali 

Gerrymandering // Congressional Apportionment 

• Congressional Apportionment 

  • Process of dividing the 435 house reps (and electoral votes) across the 50 states. Done by Congress after the Census is taken, and the number of house representatives a state receives is based on the population of the states. The more populous, the more representatives. After a census is taken, the 435 representatives may be redistributed around the states through redistricting, the redrawing of districts. Districts are the land in which a house rep. will serve.
  • A phenomenon occurs in which the same states are always the one losing votes, and the same states are always the one gaining votes. The Great Lakes region consistently loses votes due to push factors that are encouraging much of the population to leave. After NAFTA (North American Free Trade Act), industries realize they don’t need to stay in the U.S, and the industries in the region leave. After the industries leave, the people leave too. 
  • The states that are consistently gaining votes are those in the Southern and Western regions since that’s where people are just naturally gravitating towards. Examples include: Texas, Colorado, Florida. Pull factors are factors that encourage people to move there.

• Gerrymandering

  • Changing the boundaries of districts in a way that gives the party redistricting an advantage. If it doesn’t give the party any advantage, it is just redistricting. 
  • Central AND local governments can be gerrymandered. So Delaware can’t be gerrymandered on a federal level (for house of representatives), but Delaware can be gerrymandered locally. Gerrymandering on a federal level looks like making house of representatives districts in a way so that all the districts are won by one number. Gerrymandering on a local level looks the same except house of representatives is replaced by state legislative districts
  • Packing and cracking, methods used to gerrymander. 
  • Packing - packing as many supporters of the opposite party into one district as you can, so in other districts your party can win 
  • Cracking - Splitting up supporters of the opposite party across many districts so they don’t win any districts
  • Federal law against gerrymandering 
  • Districts have to be roughly equal in population, stated in the Constitution and the 14th amendment. State laws usually describe 5-10% population difference between districts 
  • The 1965 voting act, which prohibits gerrymandering that discriminates on race, which was common since racial minorities typically votes democrat.
  • Suggestions for gerrymandering 
  • Contiguous - all parts of a district have to touch each other. Only criteria used by all states
  • Compactness - districts can’t look overly gangly. This is the most common issue when gerrymandering
  • Preservation of counties - Can’t cross counties, towns, cities when gerrymandering.
  • Preservation of communities of interest - can’t split racial minorities or communities with very unique political interests (like cities where everyone votes democrat).

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