Lecture 16 Outline of Last Lecture I Who is voting and why Outline of Current Lecture II What are political parties III Why do we need political parties IV Why are there mainly two parties V Democrats vs Republicans VI Reasons for joining a party VII Statistical Facts VIII Things Parties do IX Basic Party History POLS 206 1st Edition X What about third parties and what is their purpose Current Lecture l Political parties are a group of people not government related who come together in order to win seats and want to run the government not interest groups for they do NOT run candidates ll Why do we need political parties a Actively support candidates b So that each party can run their own primary elections c Run political campaigns d There is a stronger connection between the people and the government lll Why are there mainly two parties Many reasons a from the beginning of America there has been two major parties summing people s main opinion and competing against each other for a seat b in election laws there requires at least two parties against each other c the media mainly supports the two parties thus people are exposed to the two major parties d the electoral college helps keep the two party system going e citizens have kept this system going as well lV Democrats vs Republicans a Democrats Party of the little people mostly the working lower class support encourage social programs domestic policy as well as more government spending and very much support protecting everyone s rights and liberties b Republicans Party of the corporation mostly the middle more educated people encourage family values pro life independence over dependence on the government for programs therefore want less government spending and taxes but do want a strong military and foreign policy V Reasons for joining a party these are just the broad reasons a in order to be considered part of a party all you do is identify yourself as part of that party b people will join because they want acceptance and be around people with similar opinions c people want to support a candidate they like Vl Statistical Facts In general a Democrats are usually people above the age of 65 more reliance on government programs to care for them women and ethnic minorities the average working class Jewish and Catholics b Republicans are usually men whites more educated people upper middle class protestant people Vll Major things Parties do a choose the main candidates b tell the general public what is going on c decide on what policies they will make support d help keep the dominating party in office from getting too domineering e make a voice for opposing views f manage campaigns for candidates Vlll Basic Party History a The Jacobins French during the 1790 s had an influence on forming parties b Originally there were two basic parties the Federalists and the Anti Federalists c The Federalist party ended and there was a schism from the Democratic Republican Party and the National Republican Party eventually formed then the Whig Party then finally the Republican Party or Grand Ole Party GOP d The Anti Federalists became the Democratic Republican Party and the schism happened and then the Democratic Party was formed There were random third parties in there some making office lX What about third parties and what is their purpose a There have been various third parties particularly supporting or disproving ideas b Such parties are Issue oriented parties like the Green Party Ideological Parties like the Libertarian Party and Splinter Personality Parties like the Bull Moose c The main purpose of third parties is they bring issues to the public s attention and force the two main parties to address those issues as well d They have an influence on the vote e Also they make a voice for people who are not satisfied with the two main parties
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