Chapter 8: Political Parties
Synopsis
Many people equate democracy with the presence of competitive political organizations. In a democratic political system, parties have four major functions: (1) nominating candi-dates for election to public office; (2) structuring the voting choice in elections; (3) proposing alternative government programs; and (4) coordinating the actions of government officials.
Political party activity in the United States has consistently revolved around two major parties alternating in power. The Federalists, Democratic Republicans, and Whigs formed the basis of two-party systems earlier in our history. Today, the long traditions of the Democratic party, founded in 1828, and the Republican party, formed in 1854, virtually close out the field to any serious challenge from a young, upstart party.
The balance between the Democrats and Republicans in the current party system can be usefully analyzed according to three critical elections. A rough balance of power between the parties followed the election of 1860. The election of 1896 led to the Republicans' emergence as the majority party. The election of 1932 led to a majority of voters identifying themselves as Democrats, which has continued to the present day.
Minority parties fall into four categories: (1) bolter parties, which are split-off factions from a major party; (2) farmer-labor parties, which have a populist, working-class orientation; (3) parties of ideological protest, such as the Socialist and Libertarian parties; and (4) single-issue parties, such as the Prohibition party. Minority parties on the whole have not been strong vote getters, but they have had some success as policy advocates. They also serve as a political safety valve by giving discontented groups the opportunity to air their policy views.
Party identification, a state of mind or psychological attachment to a political party, should be distinguished from voting, which is a behavior. Most Americans readily identify with one of the two political parties, and this predisposition is the most important long-term force affecting U.S. elections. Short-term factors, however‹such as candidate attri-butes and policy positions‹may lead a voter to abandon his or her party's nominee and vote instead for a candidate of the opposing party.
Although both the Democrats and the Republicans support the concept of capitalism, there is a definite ideological gap between government roles favored by the parties. In particular, Democrat activists are likely to be liberals or moderates, whereas Republicans are more inclined toward conservatism.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats have a hierarchical party structure, and the national party has little control over decentralized state and local election campaigns. The candidate nomination process in American party politics, unlike other party systems in the world, centers on election rather than selection by party leaders.
©1998 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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