Party Accommodation Case Study

For over 200 years people have argued about whether or not political parties are helpful, or even healthy. In 1879 during his farewell address the first president of the united states of American George Washington warned that….” The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it”. Even with all the controversy that surrounds, the American two-party- system hasn’t faulted, from challenges of third parties to changes in our society, it has again and again proven itself as a strong system. One good thing about the two-party- system is that each political party helps voters make sense of our country’s political scene, by working to get voters more involved by using specific platforms that are important to that certain party’s constitutes. So that voters can fully evaluate each candidate and choose the one they feel is best to be an advocate for the platforms that closely relate to their specific beliefs. On the bad side the two-party-system is just that, only allowing voters two parties to choose from, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, each with its own specific platforms, and its views on current issues. This limits choices of the voters by only allowing them to see the world in two colors, red for republican and blue for democrats, thus leaving out all the others on a color spectrum. At times it can be difficult to choose between the different parties,

Amidst the past eight years of lackluster economic advancement, America’s prowess and respect declining worldwide, increasing government involvement in daily lives, and a President seemingly unwilling to take a solid stance on a the global threat of terrorism, the transfer of power between political parties in the White House is not so stunning. Due to the two-party system, this is not an unprecedented phenomenon. The American people are constantly seeking a political party to garner their attention and adapt to changing times, opinions, demographics, and attitudes (Cohen) and this results in the alternation of power between the two key political parties.

The author, John H. Aldrich, argues that the contemporary political party are not in decline. John H. Aldrich want us to believe that contemporary political party are not in a decline but, instead in transformation. John H. Aldrich give cases for both the importance of political parties and for weak and weakening parties.

Since the writing of the United States Constitution, the American government has been structured in a way that only truly allows for two parties. Of course there are numerous other smaller parties, however, the key is that these parties are smaller. The most successful way to become elected to a position in the American governmental structure is to have the backing of the Democratic or Republican Party. Over the two-hundred-year history of the United States the parties have changed names and fundamentally altered their core believes. Today, the distinction has become quite clear as the rise of polarization forces a clear, concise difference between the two parties. The Democrats must uphold the liberal ideals while the Republican Party carters to those of a conservative

Parties are an important part of the political process; however, they do not have the same influence that they once enjoyed. One reason for this is the candidate-centered election that has come, in part, from the

The Political Parties Model in which politicians diverge ideologically to provide a cue of party affiliation, allowing

The United States had learned a lesson in moderacy. For the next century, the parties, though still opposed, never again resorted to the violent factionalism of the past. Compromise was prevalent and disputes were resolved. Third parties even began to receive some real popular support. Recently, however, this theme has been on the decline. The political polarization of today has changed the scene of politics from a real courthouse where civil Democrats debate respectable Republicans to a conjured battlefield where militant Communists contend with fanatical Fascists. What is missing from today’s society that has precipitated this result? Well, what do you need to do to destroy a civilized government? How can one be patient when time is of the

They did both have the chance to vote for who they wanted, because they might not have liked the person/people that were in charge.

Since the late 1960s, early 1970s the American political system has gone through large changes. These changes include American’s trust in government, the importance of political parties, the role of media in society, the growth and role of interest groups, and money and campaign finance reform.

Essay #1: Political Parties in America favor electoral victories over achieving policy outcomes because of the way our parties are structured. As noted in the readings from, “Parties, Politics, and Public Policy in America” by Marc Hetherington and Bruce Larson, American political parties are largely fragmented. The reading describes how our main parties, the Democrats and Republicans, are fragmented across various sub-groups, states, and ideologies.

The change from partisan to personal electoral politics is usually associated to changes in the political environment that increased the growth of individual politicians’ aspects and weakened traditional party organizations. This means that candidate-centered politics have raised in the past years causing changes in the role of political parties. These changes can be attributed to campaign advertising technologies such as the popularity of television, the replacement of patronage with civil service employment, and the rise in personal assets available to elected officials for constituency service. These factors influenced voters to see parties as increasingly insignificant, and party attachments have dropped.

A deep divide between political parties in the United States is nothing new. Heated, ideological debates can be traced back to over two centuries ago between the founding fathers, most notably between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, who birthed the two party system through their differing views on the extent of federal power. Today, this system continues on, but with a stark and alarming difference between the value and discussions taking place due to the severe polarization that has gripped American politics. Recently factors including the infiltration of party politics by extremism, biased news, and the unrelenting desire of politicians to remain in power has culminated into the disastrous partisanship that afflicts government today.

college, a system that in itself is easily manipulated by big corporations and corrupt politicians

Political parties are in a decline as they lack strong rank and file membership, lack party discipline, establishment of intraparty divisions, and lost many of their traditional functions. They lack strong rank and file membership as the registration process of being a party member has been made significantly easier with voters checking a simple box while voting. Some states do not even require to register to a party, but allows voters to “tend” towards a certain party. Furthermore, they are no party duties that allows voters to be invested in the parties. A lack of party discipline allows voters to do split ticket voting that creates a divided government. Without any punishment by political machines, the voters or politicians are free to not be loyal to their party. Intraparty divisions implements problems within a party itself with the members creating a divide.

This topic is extremely important to the future every citizen in the country. As Avi Rubin eloquently puts it, “These changes are approached so sensitively because a discrepancy in the election system threatens the