American Government Chapter 7

Describe solidary groups.

Many people who participate in state and local politics do so not in order to earn money or vindicate some cause, but simply because they find it fun. When people get together out of gregarious or game-loving instincts, we say that they are responding to solidary incentives; if they form an organization, it is a solidary organization.

National Convention

Meeting every four years to nominate a President

Why can't minor parties compete under the electoral college system?

Minor parties cannot compete under the electoral college system. To win the presidency one must form a party with as broad an appeal as possible. As a practical matter that means there will be, in most cases, only two serious parties—one made up of those who support the party already in power, and the other made up of everyone else.

What is viewed as a contribution of minor parties?

One bit of conventional wisdom holds that minor parties develop ideas that the major parties will later come to adopt.

What types of minor parties endure?

Parties have been a permanent feature of American political life. The minor parties that have endured have been the ideological ones. Their members feel themselves to be outside the mainstream of American political life. They are usually not interested in immediate electoral success and thus persist despite their poor showing at the polls.

"Out Party"

Party who is not in power

Have political authority and political parties become more centralized or decentralized recently? Why?

Political authority in the US has of late come to be far more centralized: the federal government now makes decisions affecting almost all aspects of our lives. Yet the political parties have not become more centralized as a result. One reason for this paradox is that in the US political parties are closely regulated by state and federal laws, and these regulations have the effect of weakening the power of parties substantially.

Describe the political actions of the progressives.

Progressives began to espouse measures to curtail or even abolish political parties. They favored primary elections to replace nominating conventions, because the latter were viewed as being manipulated by party bosses; they favored nonpartisan elections at the city level and in some cases at the state; they argued against corrupt alliances between parties and businesses. They wanted strict voter-registration requirements that would reduce voting fraud; they pressed for civil service reform to eliminate patronage; and they made heavy use of the mass media as a way of attacking the abuses of partisanship and promoting their ideas.

Progressives

Reformers who were opposed to patronage and political machines

Why did Republicans control the White House during the last half of the 19th century?

Republican control of the White House was in large measure the result of two events that gave to Republicans a marked advantage in the competition for the loyalties of voters. The first of these was the Civil War. This crisis deeply polarized popular attitudes. The partisan division was nearly even: though the Republicans usually won the presidency and the Senate, they often lost control of the House. There were many northern Democrats. The presidential candidacy of William Jennings Bryan further strengthened the Republic party. Bryan, a democrat, alienated many voters in the northeastern states while attracting voters in the South and Midwest. The result was to confirm and deepen the split in the country, especially North versus South.

Following the election of Jefferson, what happened to the Federalists and political parties all together?

So successful were the Republicans that the Federalists virtually ceased to exist as a party. Political parties seemingly disappeared.

How did solidary groups start?

Some of these machines were once machines. When a machine loses its patronage, some of its numbers may continue to serve in the organization out of a desire for camaraderie. Since patronage has declined in value and since the appeals of ideology are limited to a minority of citizens, the motivations for participating in politics have become very much like those for joining a bowling league or a bridge club.

What groups do candidates try and get personal followings from, especially during primaries?

Sometimes a candidate tries to meld a personal following with an ideological group, especially during the primary election campaign, when candidates need the kind of financial backing and hard work that only highly motivated activists are likely to supply.

Describe sponsor parties.

Sometimes a relatively strong party organization can be created among volunteers without heavy reliance on money or ideology and without depending entirely on people's finding the work fun. This type of sponsored party occurs when another organization exists in the community that can create, or at least sponsor, a local party structure.

What are superdelegates?

Superdelegates are the overwhelming majority of elected officials at a party convention.

How did the Founders feel about parties? Why?

The Founders disliked parties, thinking of them as "factions" motivated by ambition and self-interest. The hostility towards parties was understandable: the legitimacy and success of the newly created federal government was still very much a doubt.

How were the abuses of political machines curtailed?

The abuses of the machine were well known and gradually curtailed. Stricter voter registration laws reduced fraud, civil service reforms cut down the number of patronage jobs, and the competitive-bidding laws made it harder to award overpriced contracts to favored businesses. The Hatch Act made it illegal for federal civil service employees to take an active part in the political management or political campaigns by serving party officers, soliciting campaign funds, running for partisan office, working in a partisan campaign, endorsing partisan candidates, taking voters to the polls, counting ballots, circulating nominating petitions, or being delegates to a party convention. These restrictions gradually took federal employees out of machine politics, but they did not end the machines.

What is the advantage of a solidary group?

The advantage of such groups is that they are neither corrupt nor inflexible; the disadvantage is that they often do not work very hard.

How have attitudes and traditions of American voters affected the power of political parties?

The attitudes and traditions of American voters reinforce the institutional and legal factors that make American parties relatively weak. Political parties have rarely played a part in the life of the average citizen, unlike those in Europe, where your party might run many community events and activities.

Who runs the day-to-day work of a party?

The day-to-day work of the party is managed by a full-time, paid national chairman, who is elected by the committee.

What were the effects of the changes in politics due to the progressives?

The effect of these changes was to reduce substantially the worst forms of political corruption and ultimately make boss rule in politics difficult. They also had the effect of making political parties weaker, less able to hold officeholders accountable, and less able to assemble the power necessary for governing the fragmented political institutions created by the Constitution.

Why are US political party organizations decentralized?

The federal government in the US decentralizes political authority and thus decentralizes political party organizations.

What are the three explanations for the two-party system?

The first explanation of the two-party system has to do with the system of elections, the second with the distribution of public opinion, and the third is the restrictive state laws concerning ballots.

Describe the first political parties.

The first organized political party was made up of the followers of Jefferson, who, beginning in the 1790s, called themselves Republicans. The followers of Hamilton kept the label Federalist. These parties were loose caucuses of political notables in various localities, with New England being strongly Federalist and much of the South Republican. In 1800 Adams's bid to succeed himself intensified party activity even more.

Describe the goals of the reformers in the 1970s.

The general thrust of work of the first three rules commissions was to broaden the antipathy charges started by the progressives at the beginning of the century. Whereas the earlier reformers had tried to minimize the role of parties in the election process, those of the 1970s sought to weaken the influence of leaders within the party. The newer reforms were aimed at creating intraparty democracy as well as interparty democracy.

National Committee

The group who manage the affairs of a party between conventions

What two forces affect major parties?

The major parties face two contrary forces: one, generated by the desire to win the presidency, pushes them in the direction of nominating a candidate who can appeal to the majority of voters and thus who will thus have essentially middle-of-the-road views. The other, produced by the need to keep dissident elements in the party from bolting and forming a third party, leads them to compromise with dissidents in ways that may damage the party's standing with the voters.

What type of minor party is the most influential? Why?

The minor parties that have probably had the greatest influence of public policy have been the factional parties. The threat of a factional split is a risk that both major parties must face, and it is in the efforts that each makes to avoid such splits that one finds the greatest impact of minor parties. Though factional parties may hope to cause the defeat of the party from which they split, they have not always been able to achieve this.

What does a national committee do to set up a national convention?

The national committee selects the time and place of the next national convention and issues a "call" for the convention that sets forth the number of delegates each state and territory is to have and also the rules under which delegates must be chosen.

How are the number of delegates chosen by each party?

The number of delegates and their manner of selection can significantly influence the chances of various presidential candidates, and considerable attention is thus devoted to these matters. A compromise formula is usually chosen; nevertheless, over the years these formulas have gradually changed, shifting voting strength in the Democratic convention away from the South and toward the North and West and in the Republican convention away from the East and toward the South and Southwest. The Democrats give extra delegates to large states while the Republicans give extra to loyal ones.

Describe new-style political machines.

The old-style machine is almost extinct, but a new-style machine has emerged in a few places. It is a machine in the sense that it uses money to knit together many politicians, but it is new in that the money comes not from patronage and contracts but from campaign contributions supplied by wealthy individuals and the proceeds of direct-mail campaigns.

National Chairman

The one who manages the day-to-day work of the party

Describe the mugwumps/progressives.

The other faction, previously called the mugwumps or progressives was opposed to the heavy emphasis on patronage, disliked the party machinery, was fearful of the heavy influx of immigrations into American cities and of the ability of the party regulars to organize them into "machines": and wanted to see the party take unpopular positions on certain issues. Their great skills lay in the areas of advocacy and articulation, their great interest was in principle. At first the mugwumps tried to play a balance-of-power role. But later, as the Republican strength in the nation grew, progressives within that party became less and less able to play a balance-of-power role, especially at the state level.

Describe the scope and power of the first political parties?

The parties that existed in these early years were essentially small groups of local notables. Political participation was limited, and nominations for most local offices were arranged casually. In the early years, the parties, though they had different views on economic policy and somewhat different class bases, did not represent clear, homogenous economic interests.

Describe the end of the caucus system.

The party system of the Jacksonian era was built from the bottom up rather than from the top down. No change better illustrates this transformation than the abandonment of the system of having caucuses composed of members of Congress nominate presidential candidates. The caucus system was an effort to unite the legislative and executive branches by giving the former some degree of control over who would have a chance to capture the latter. The caucus system became unpopular when the caucus candidate for president in 1824 ran third in a field of four in the general election, and it was completely discredited that same year when Congress denied the presidency to Jackson, the candidate with the greatest share of the popular vote.

Describe split ticket voting.

The proportion of people identifying with one or the other party declined between 1960 and 1980. Simultaneously, the proportion of those voting a split ticket (as opposed to a straight ticket) increased. Ticket splitting creates divided government. Progressives persuaded states to adopt the office-bloc ballot in place of the party-column ballot. The office-bloc ballot lists all candidates by office: there is no way to vote a straight party ticket by making one mark.

How does the opinion of the voter lead to the two party system?

The second explanation for the persistence of the two-party system is to be found in the opinions of the voters. There remains a rough parity between the two parties regarding which most citizens think is likely to govern best on given issues. Though there have been periods of dissent, most of the time citizens have agreed enough to permit them to come together into two broad coalitions.

How did the split into a North vs. South party system impact party organization?

The split in the country's political leanings based on North vs. South had a profound impact on the organization of political parties, for it meant most states were now one-party states. As a result, competition for office at the state level had to go on within a single dominant party.

Where do traditional parties still exist? What exists everywhere else?

The traditional party organization—one that is hierarchical, lasting, based on material incentives, and capable of influencing who gets nominated for office—exists today in only eight states, mostly the older states of the Northeast and states that have faction-ridden versions of the traditional party organization. The states in the rest of the country display the weak party system of solidary clubs, personal followings, ideological groups, and sponsored parties.

How does each party choose delegates?

The way in which delegates are chosen can be more important than their allocation. The Democrats, beginning in 1972, have developed an elaborate set of rules designed to weaken the control over delegates by local party leaders and to increase the proportion of women, young people, African Americans, and Native Americans attending the convention.

Why was the first party system so weak?

The weakness of this so-called first party system can be explained by the fact that it was the first: nobody had been born a Federalist or a Republican, there was no ancestral party loyalty to defend, the earliest political leaders did not think of themselves as politicians, and the Federalist party had such a limited sectional and class base that it could not compete effectively in national elections.

What are the two types of realignments?

There are two kinds of realignments—one in which a major party is so badly defeated that is disappears and a new party emerges, and another in which the two existing parties continue but voters shift their support from one to another.

List the critical periods that have occurred so far.

There seem to have been five realignments so far: 1800 (when the Jeffersonian Republicans defeated the Federalists), 1828 (when the Jacksonian Democrats came to power), 1860 (when the Whig Party collapsed and the Republicans under Lincoln came to power), 1896 (when the Republicans defeated William Jennings Bryan), and 1932 (when the Democrats under Roosevelt came into office).

Why was the change in party ideology in 1968 troubling for Democrats?

This was more troubling to the Democrats than the Republicans, because the traditional middle class is somewhat closer to the opinions of most citizens than is the liberal middle class

What issue divided the party system and changed it? What party developed as a result?

Though the party system created in the Jacksonian period was the first truly national system, it could not withstand the deep split in opinion created by the agitation over slavery. Both parties tried to straddle the issue, since neither wanted to divide its followers and thus lose the election to its rival. But slavery and sectionalism were issues that could not be straddled. The modern Republican party began as a third party. As a result of the Civil War it came to be a major party and to dominate national politics.

What is necessary to form a personal following?

To form a personal following, the candidates must have an appealing personality, a lot of friends, or a big bank account. This strategy is popular wherever party organization is weak. The key asset is to have a known political name.

Describe the theory of critical or realigning periods.

To help to explain party changes, scholars have adopted the theory of critical or realigning periods. During such periods a sharp, lasting shift occurs in the popular coalition supporting one or both parties. The issues that separate the two parties may change, and so the kinds of voters supporting each party change. This shift may occur at the time of an election or just after, as the new administration draws its new supporters.

Describe the beginnings of party conventions.

To replace the caucus, the party convention was invented. The first convention in America history was that of the Anti-Masonic party in 1831. The convention system was first developed in part as a reform—a way of allowing for some measure of local control over the nominating process.

Split-ticket voting

Voting for both parties for various positions on one ballot

Straight-ticket voting

Voting for one party for all positions on one ballot

Are parties balanced? Where?

We have only two parties with any chance of winning nationally, and these parties have been relatively evenly balanced. Whenever one party has achieved a temporary ascendancy and its rival has been pronounced dead, the "dead" party has displayed remarkable powers of recuperation. At the state and congressional district levels, the parties are not evenly balanced. All regions are more competitive today than once was the case, but even now one party tends to enjoy a substantial advantage in at least half the states and 2/3 of the congressional districts.

Describe the emergence of the second party system. What was its distinctive feature?

What is called the second party system emerged around 1824 with Andrew Jackson's first run for presidency and lasted until the Civil War. Its distinctive feature was that political participation became a mass phenomenon. Presidential politics had become a truly national, popular activity.

Why aren't there more minor parties?

What is striking is not that we have had so many minor parties but that there have not been more. There have been several major political movements that did not produce a significant third party. One reason why some potential sources of minor parties never formed such parties is that the direct primary and the national convention have made it possible for dissident elements of a major party to remain in the party and influence the choice of candidates and policies.

What has happened to grassroots organizations of parties?

While the national party structures have changed, the grassroots organizations have withered. In between, state party systems have struggled to define their roots.

Why is it rare and odd that we have a two party system?

With so many different varieties of local party organizations and with such a great range of opinion found within each party, it is remarkable that we have had only two major political parties for most of our history. In the world at large a two-party system is a rarity.

Coalition

a combination, union, or merger for some specific purpose

Party platform

a party's statement of its positions on the issues of the day

Tammany Hall

a political organization within the Democratic Party in New York city (late 1800's and early 1900's) seeking political control by corruption and bossism

Direct Primary

a primary where voters directly select the candidates who will run for office

Winner-take-all system

an electoral system in which legislative seats are awarded only to the candidates who come in first in their constituencies. In US presidential elections, the system in which the winner of the popular vote in a state receives all the electoral votes of that state

Critical Elections

elections that disrupt party coalitions and create new ones in a party realignment

Strom Thurmond

governor of SC, leader of the Dixiecrats, ran for president under State's Rights Party in 1948

Patronage

granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support

Spoils System

practice of rewarding supporters with government jobs

Dixiecrats

southern Democrats who opposed Truman's position on civil rights. They caused a split in the Democratic party.

"Loyal Opposition"

term for political party not in power

Linage Institutions

the channels through which people's concerns become political issues on the government's policy agenda such as elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media

Party dealignment

the gradual disengagement of people and politicians from the parties, as seen in part by shrinking party identification.

Personal following

the political support provided to a candidate on the basis of personal popularity and networks

Ross Perot

won 19% of the popular vote as a third-party canidate in 1992

McGovern-Fraser

A commission formed at the 1968 Democratic convention in response to demands for reform by minority groups and others who sought better representation.

Political Party

A group that seeks to elect candidates to public office by supplying them with a label- a "party identification" by which they are known to the electorate

Tea Party

A new conservative faction of the Republican party

What are the three areas in which parties can be found?

A party exists as a label in the minds of the voters, as an organization that recruits and campaigns for candidates, and as a set of leaders who try to organize and control the legislative and executive branches of government.

Political Machine

A party organization that recruits its members using tangible incentives like money or work

Describe political machines.

A political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership control over member activity. At one time many local party organizations were machines, and the struggle over political jobs was the chief concern of their members.

What is a political party?

A political party is a group that seeks to elect candidates to public office by supplying them with a label by which they are known to the electorate.

What makes a party a powerful party?

A powerful party is one whose label has a strong appeal for the voters, who organization can decide who will be candidates and how their campaign will be managed, and whose leaders can dominate all or one branches of government.

Caucus

A private meeting of members of a political party to select candidates.

Realignment

A shift of voting patterns to form new coaltions of party support

New Deal Coalition

Alliance of southern conservatives, religious, and ethnic minorities who supported the Democratic Party for 40 years

How have American parties become weaker in all three arenas of a political party?

American parties have become weaker in all three arenas. As a set of leaders who organize government, especially Congress, political parties remain somewhat strong. As organizations that nominate and elect candidates, parties have become dramatically weaker since the 1960s.

Single-member district

An electoral district in which voters choose one representative or official

When does an electoral realignment occur?

An electoral realignment occurs when a new issue of utmost importance to the voters cuts across existing party divisions and replaces old issues that were formerly the basis of party identification.

Plurality System

An electoral system in which the winner is the person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not receive a majority; used in almost all American elections.

How did the Democratic party change in the 1960s?

At about the same time, the Democrats began changing the rules governing how presidential candidates are nominated in ways that profoundly altered the distribution of power within the party. As a consequence the Republicans became a bureaucratized party and the Democrats became a factionalized one. The Democrats eventually began to suspect that maybe an efficient bureaucracy was better than a collection of warring factions, and so they made an effort to emulate the Republicans, so they started using computerized mailings too.

How do party organizations change at each level of government?

At each level a separate and almost independent organization exists that does pretty much what it wants, and in many counties and cities there is virtually no organization at all.

Describe ideological parties.

At the opposite extreme from the machine is the ideological party. Where the machine values winning above all else, the ideological party values principles above all else. Ideological parties spurn money incentives and are usually contentious and factionalized. The most firmly ideological parties have been independent "third parties," such as Socialist Workers, Libertarian, and Right-to-Life parties.

Describe personal followings.

Because most candidates can no longer count on the backing of a machine, because sponsored parties are limited to a few unionized areas, and because solidary groups are not always productive, a person wanting to get elected will often try to form a personal following that will work for them during a campaign.

What presidential candidate would a machine support?

Because party machines were interested in winning, they would subordinate any other consideration to that end. This meant that the machines were usually willing to support the presidential candidate with the best chance of winning, regardless of his policy views.

Who, before and after 1968, did each party represent?

Before 1968 the Republican Party represented, essentially, white-collar voters and the Democratic Party represented blue-collar ones. After a decade of reform, the Republican and Democratic parties each represented two ideologically different sets of upper-middle-class voters. The Republicans came to represent the more conservative wing of traditional middle class and the Democrats the more leftist wing.

What was necessary before political parties could become legitimate in America?

Before political parties could become legitimate, it was necessary for people to be able to separate in their minds quarrels over policies and from disputes over the legitimacy of the new government.

How did the Republican party change in the 1960s?

Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s the Republicans began to convert their national party into a well-financed, highly staffed organization devoted to finding and electing Republican candidates, especially to Congress. They used computerized mailings to get donations, which worked wonders.

Describe national committees.

Between these conventions, party affairs are managed by a national committee, made up of delegates from each state and territory.

How do parties raise money and what is it spent on?

Both parties send money to state organizations to finance television ads. By doing this the national parties sidestep a restriction on how their money can be used. A lot RNC money goes to commission public opinion polls. In 1996 both parties redoubled their efforts to raise what they called soft money—that is, funds to aid parties.

Describe the stalwarts.

Consequently there emerged two major factions within each party, but especially within the Republican party. One was composed of the party regulars, called stalwarts. They were preoccupied with building up the party machinery, developing party loyalty, and acquiring and dispensing patronage. Their great skills were in organization, negotiation, bargaining, and compromise.

What has factionalism within ideological parties led to?

Consequently, internal factionalism is more intense, and the freedom of action of the party leader has been greatly reduced.

How are delegates chosen?

Delegates once selected by party leaders are now chosen by primary elections and grassroots caucuses. As a result the national party conventions are no longer places where party leaders meet to bargain over the selection of their party candidates; they are instead places where delegates come together to ratify choices already made by party activists and primary voters.

Super-delegates

Delegates who hold public office or political power

Describe the plurality system and what it means for minor parties.

Elections at every level are based on the plurality, winner-take-all method. The plurality system means that in all elections for representative, senator, governor, or president, and in almost all elections for state legislator, the winner is that person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not get a majority of votes cast. The plurality system means that a party must make all the alliances it can before the first election. Hence every party must be as broad as possible; a narrow, minor party has no chance of winning.

What are the four types of minor parties?

Factional, Single issue, Economic protest, Ideological

How did the changes in voters lead to the end of most political machines?

Far more important than the progressive reforms that weakened the machines were changes among voters. As voters grew in education, income, and sophistication, they depended less and less on the advice and leadership of local party officials. And as the federal government created a bureaucratic welfare system, the parties' welfare systems declined in value.

What role does federalism play in the formation of political parties?

Federalism meant that political parties would acquire jobs and money from local sources fighting local contests. This, in turn, meant that the national political parties would be coalitions of local parties and the national party leaders rarely had as much power as the local ones.

Describe the similarities in party behavior before the 1960s.

For a long time the two parties were alike in behavior as well as description. The national chairman would help decide who among the party faithful would get federal jobs. Otherwise the parties did very little.

What are the state laws that damage minor parties?

For many years there was an additional reason for the two-party system: the laws of many states made it difficult for third parties to get on the ballot.

How is the executive chosen in Europe, as compared to America?

If an American political party wins control of Congress it does not also win the right to select the chief executive of the government, as is the case in Europe. The president chooses his subordinates from among the persons out of Congress. Should he pick a representative or senator for his cabinet, the Constitution requires that person to resign from Congress in order to accept the job. Thus an opportunity to be a cabinet member is not an important reward for members of Congress, and so the president cannot use the prospect of that reward as a way of controlling congressional action.

Describe congressional campaign committees.

In Congress each party has a congressional campaign committee that helps members of Congress who are running for reelection or would-be members running for an open seat or challenging a candidate from the opposition party.

How are European party politics different in how campaigns are run and elected officials are expected to act?

In Europe, almost the only way a person can become a candidate for elective office is to be nominated by party leaders. Campaigns are run by the party using party funds. Once in office the elected officials are expected to act and vote together with the other members of their party.

Who picks the heads of state precinct committees?

In a few places strong party bosses handpick the members of these committees, in others places powerful elected officials control the committees. And in many places no one is in charge, so that either the party is largely meaningless or it is made up of the representatives of various local factions.

Describe national conventions.

In both parties authority is in the hands of the national convention that meets every four years to nominate a presidential candidate.

Describe the organization of state parties.

In each state there is a Democratic and a Republican state party organized under state law. Typically each consists of a state central committee, below which are found county committees and sometimes city, town, or even precinct committees. The members of these committees are chosen in a variety of ways—sometimes in primary elections, sometimes by conventions, sometimes by a building-block process whereby people elected to serve on precinct or town committees choose the members of county committees, who in turn chose state committee members.

How much control do state parties have over nominations?

In most states parties have very little control over who gets nominated to office.

Describe the history of the ideological parties.

In the 1950s and 60s these ideological groups were "reform clubs" within local Democratic and Republican parties. The 1960s and 70s saw these "reform" movements replaced by more focused social movements. The "reform" movement was based on a generalized sense of liberalism among Democrats or conservatism among Republicans. With the advent of social movements concerned with civil rights, peace, feminism, environmentalism, libertarianism, and abortion, the generalized ideology of the clubs was replaced by the specific ideological demands of single-issue activists. The result is that in many places the party has become a collection of people drawn from various social movements.

Who selects people to run for office?

In the great majority of states, the party leaders do not select people to run for office, these people are chosen by voters in the primary election. Though sometimes the party can influence who will win a primary contest, in general people running for state or national office owe little to party leaders.