Pragmatism- Factions (same group of people who were imposed because they didn’t see eye to eye) today we have parties! Parties are trying to impose their will on the other. They will not compromise. Political parties are needed because it’s hard to voice the opinions of the Americans. Parties recruit and nominate the best candidate for the position, provide info to the voters and they are suppose to organize elections. The main job of a political party is to get people elected to office. By getting people elected to office, they can influence all government. The purpose of a special interest group is to influence a smallportion of the government, whereas political party is trying to influence all government. - Characteristics of American Political Parties:o Pragmatism: ideas are judged on the basis of their practical results rather than on an ideological basis. People don’t care what party its done by, we just care that it hopefully worked. o Decentralization: American parties reflect the federal system and decentralization of power between the various levels: National, State, Local (city, county, district), Grassroots (precinct). The grassroots is where you see people trying to push their ideas. o The two-party system: only 2 main parties have a realistic chance to win, we do have other parties such as (libertarian, conservative, etc.) we rarely hear them win the race. Third parties find it hard to gain momentum (historical inertia). If the third parties have a really good idea, one of the major party will adopt the idea and the people following the third party will follow the main party. Secondly, we elect people from single-member district system (we have 31 member in the senate). We, as voters, want to be on the winning side of an election and want our team to win. With this mind, we will vote for themajor party. We feel like voting for the third party will be a waste of vote and they’re not going to win.- The one party tradition in Texas: when we became a nation, we didn’t have parties, we had factions (pro-Houston that wanted to annex USA and be nice to the Indians, or Anti-Houston that wanted to be a country, go west and kill Indians). Parties didn’t start coming in to effect until late 1860s after the civil war. o Democrats dominated our statehood until the 1990s because how the republicans treated texas after the civil war. Party primary reforms in 1906. Republicans largely associated with the great depression. o We saw democrats back then continue to not give rights to African Americans. When we got to Great Depression, republicans were in charge of federal and state level congress. Voting democratic was then reinforced because we felt republicans got us into great depression.Ideological basis of factionalism: Conservatives and Liberals- Conservatives: o Support a free market unfettered by governmental control. They don’t want governmental control in the economy; we should be free to makeas much money as we can. Fewer regulations encourage big companies to spend money that will help boost economy. o Support government action to preserve proper moral values to preserve the constitution. This is good if you belong in this group, other groups have different morals. o Oppose programs that involve redistribution of wealth. This is taking money from rich and giving to poor. Good in some cases and some cases bad. - Libertarians:o Support a hands-off philosophy. They don’t want the government to regulate economic activity but they also support individual liberty andpersonal responsibility. o Fiscal policy (money policy) they are conservative but for social policies they are liberal.o Government shouldn’t interfere with our personal liberty, we can smoke but it’s our responsibility. - Liberals: o The government should: regulate the economy, protect the disadvantaged, uphold and protect civil rights and civil liberties and promote equality. o Both conservatives and liberals believe in equality. They believe in equality of opportunity (work hard, you can achieve it); however, liberals believe in equality of outcome. In this case, the libertarians will be the conservative view.- We find factions within the Democratic Party that created a two party system within the Democratic Party. We have the liberal faction and conservative faction. The far left were the crazy people. The largest amount/biggest faction in the Democratic Party was called the conservative democrats. They shared a lot of ideology with the republicans. Today, they’re called the moderns (wouldn’t get elected today). o Republicans crossed over and supported conservative Democrats (wanted the crazy people to run the state). - Conservative democrat controlled party until 1978. They typically voted democrat in state and local elections. They also voted republican in national elections. These were shivecrats (democrats who say they are democrats but end up voting for republicans at national level). o Conservative democrats compromise the sate elite party.o Conservative democrats are more likely to vote.Rise of the Republican Party- 1961: republican John Tower elected to U.S. Senate- 1978/1986: republican Bill Clements wins governor’s seat.- 1992: republicans hold both senate seats- 1998: republicans win every statewide election. Conservative and Moderate Factions within the Republican Party- Fundamentalist/ Evangelical Christians: concerned with moral issues (your soul). Their extreme view on religion could turn people away from voting for republicans. - Economic/business: concerned with lower taxes, favorable business conditions. They were concerned that the fundamentalist/Evangelical Christians will jeopardize republican’s ability to win elections because they have extreme view on religion that might make people not vote. They are more moderate. Temporary-Party Organization- Precinct convention: held in March.o Convention is open to those who participated in that party’s primary. o Resolutions for the county are adopted.o Delegates for the county convention are elected.o Attendance is minimal. o If you want to network, this is how you do it. You could get a job, if youwant to be a delegate, you volunteer. - State convention: held biennially in June.o Elect state party officers.o Elect members of the state executive committeeo Adopt a party platformo Elect party nominees for the national convention o Select 38 presidential electorsPermanent-Party Organization- The permanent party leads