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CSU POLS 101 - Political Parties

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POLS 101 1st Edition Lecture 17Outline of Last Lecture I. Public OpinionII. Political SocializationOutline of Current Lecture I. Political PartiesII. 3 Components of American PartiesIII. Are parties a good or bad thing?Current LectureI. Political Parties- American Parties- “Umbrella Parties”- they encompass a very wide distribution of views. Our parties today are more focused and centralized than in the past, the Democratic Party in the 1950’s had a conservative wing, not today. Moderate elected officials were once popular in office, today that is less popular. A. American Parties have one goal that is winning elections. Representing a particular political view is extremely important to winning elections. If elected official is faced with situation where party has one perspective and constituents have different, they will tend to stand with the constituents. Party has much less control over who will beelected in future. In countries with multiple parties, they will be very centralized and focused on a singular platform for that party.B. In parliamentary systems, when a member votes against their party, an individual voting against their party, it can indeed bring down a whole government. Parties are more programmatic! Elected members of those parties are expected to abide by oneparty platform. If they don’t abide, your party will probably never allow them to run with their party again, incentive to support party via discipline. C. American Parties are NOT PROGRAMMATIC. They are not disciplined parties!D. Vote of No Confidence- In Parliamentary system- Parties vote on important bill, the expectation is that majority party who brought bill forward will have enough votes tobring bill through, if members of the majority party vote against it, elections are called to reelect officials to vote for their party, maintaining support. These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.II. 3 Components of American PartiesA. Party in the Electorate- any individual, who chooses to affiliate with a particular party, democrat, and republican. Many can be moderate in views. B. Activists- individuals who enjoy participating in party affairs in local government, who enjoy being around others in their party. Passionate about politics, run many aspects of the day-to-day party affairs. They are not elected officials. Tend to be more extreme in views than elected officials. C. Party in Government- Elected Officials- County commissioners, Mayors, Governors, State Secretary of State, Congressman, The President.III. Are parties a good or bad thing? A. Americans do distrust, traditionally and historically, parties. Americans worry about corruption. Parties in Texas, when Linden Johnson was elected senator, were quite corrupt, barely won election to the US Senate, people who “voted” where actually dead. Obvious corruption.B. Party Machines- Important in last half of 1800’s and first half of 1900’s, small group of people who ran party, promised to voters that they would get certain benefits, popular In immigrant cities to get votes of immigrants, sometimes would provide cityjobs in order to get votes, acted as social welfare safety net to gain votes. You vote for us and we will provide very tangible benefits. In latter part of 1800’s we did not have voter registration, parties could get individuals to vote at multiple polling places.C. Citizens began to pass reforms against the Party Machines to control party power. Early 1900’s these reforms came around. The Australian Ballot- One unified ballot given to voters, that enables them to choose which candidate they want in privacy. The Direct Primary- still used in our political system today, different candidates in same party run against each other to determine who gets to be the party’s candidateto run. It is up to voters in primary to decide who gets to run for office. Voter Registration- make sure who is voting and make sure they only vote once, initiative referendum was put in place. Not all states allow for this, but they states that do allow people to draft a proposal on an issue and if they gain enough support it will be put on the ballot and voters will vote in favor or against this policy. D. Western States just coming into government at this time, initiative referendum was popular in the writing of states constitutionsE. Why two parties? Public opinion ranging from liberal, to moderate, to conservative, more citizens tend to have more moderate views. That makes it difficult for extreme liberal or extreme conservative candidates to be elected into office, when candidate would only receive small amount of extreme views voters. -Americans have had more moderate political positions. -The two parties write the election laws.-3rd party candidates find it difficult to get on the


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CSU POLS 101 - Political Parties

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