Political Parties Decline

In the United States of America, the political party system is pivotal to the function of our nation. The political party system in our society today is separated between the Democrats and the Republicans. Although political parties do possess uncertainties their advantages outweigh their drawbacks in America. The United States of America is made up of two basic political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. A political party is a group of individuals who share similar interest and they work together with one another to construct and execute policies. The Democratic Party was established in 1828, by Andrew Jackson. The Democratic Party was created based on a belief in an unyielding government and an advocacy of social and

The English Civil War in the 1600’s was fought between two parties in the government, the Tories and the Whigs, that either supported the king or disapproved of him. This violent show of political partisanship may have warned the Founding Fathers that political parties had the power to divide governments and lead to tyranny. Aside from the possibility of leading to a violent power struggle, political parties have the potential to draw away politicians’ loyalty from the American population as a whole to the benefit of their political group. Thomas Jefferson wrote that he never wanted to adhere to a group when he was capable of thinking on his own. He called submitting a whole opinion to a party, “the last degradation for a free and moral agent.” (Hatzenbuehler 32) Arduous bipartisanship also leads to a stalemate in Congress. According to a study by the Brookings Institute, in Congress seventy-five percent of salient issues in 2014 were in gridlock. (Binder 2016) Attitudes become increasingly sharp in politics as the political sides compete, each trying to prove the other a radical. If there were no political parties every member would most likely treat their fellow members with civility in the hopes that they would choose to support mutual

Generally speaking, anyone who lives in the United States of America knows that there are two main political parties—the Republicans and the Democrats. Having two main parties has its advantages and, of course, its disadvantages. For example, in By the People James E. Monroe and Rogan Kersh (301) point out having this type of system creates “predictability and stability.” However, they also declare (301) it can “lead to a gridlock.” This is not a new concept either as there has been a divide since the beginning of both parties. The two parties more often than not disagree on various issues, while rarely agreeing on what is best for the country.

It could be argued, however, that the two party system which was once in place is declining, meaning more parties have a realistic chance to achieve role as government. In the last thirty years the support for the Conservative and Labour parties has been gradually decreasing, leaving them with only 67% of the vote at the 2005 general election, which was the smallest percentage they’d gained since 1918. This is an example of partisan dealignment because the working class started to transfer their party support to Conservative instead of Labour. The Liberal Democrats support was significantly increasing, leaving them with 22% of the vote in the 2005 election as well as 62 seats. Their seat numbers had been increasing since 1974 when they only had 14 seats in parliament, suggesting a change in the dominance of only two parties. Today, the Liberal Democrats, who haven’t been considered a main party since, are currently the weaker part of a coalition government, with Labour in opposition. This shows a clear end to the two party system, with three parties in significant places of power.

Dealignment has contributed to the decilne in political parties because it has caused an increase in split-ticket voting and people have started to identify themselves as independents instead of part of a major political party. Political machines have also contributed to the decline of political parties because they were ran by a specific person, taking power away from the political groups.

Some common issues that political parties present can include problems with inequality, wrong education of the people, the spread of communal hatred, and the decrease of personal individuality. Issues with inequality originate from the thought that one political party doesn’t have the right to make decisions for the public and many citizens may not support everything that a specific Party supports. Educational issues with the political system are caused by political parties trying to obtain votes through false promises and propaganda, this type of advertisement creates misunderstandings among citizens. The spread of communal hatred is based on the fact that many people believe that religion based parties create hatred against other communities and cause conflict in our country. The decrease of personal individuality has also become an issue, this refers to how political parties expect people to follow them blindly and how these parties refuse to be criticized for their own shortcomings.

Unlike parties in many other countries, political parties in the U.S. are relatively weak in terms of their ability to mobilize voters to register and ultimately vote on election- day. This inability to mobilize voters has direct correlation to the fact that membership and affiliation in political

US parties are often described as organisationally weak because they are essentially ‘broad coalitions’. For example they contain moderates like McCain republican) and Obama democrat), while also having a more conservative wing. Therefore stronger party organisation would give parties a narrower appeal and potentially alienate large ‘voting blocs’ or proportions of the electorate. This is a reason why it is argued that having ‘organisationally weak’ parties is a necessity in the US political system. It has therefore been argued that symptoms of weak organisation e.g issue centred or candidate-centered election campaigns are deliberate as parties attempt to gain a maximum

It does not hurt to reflect upon history and to determine what should and should not be implemented as to correct our previous faults and thus not repeat them in borderline insane process. Furthermore, this presidential election has shaken both political parties as both of them are scrambling for party unity instead of creating other beliefs which resulted in a gathered hate against both political candidates. I proudly state that I have reconsidered my political preference during this election as I am sure others did too. Unfortunately, I firmly believe that political parties are the only way to inspire and gather people with similar beliefs and aspirations as it is the only way we know how to approach politics. The systematic organization of the political process and parties is held to a fault based upon prejudices and predisposed historical follies, from there causes the intolerance of ideology. As what Alexander Hamilton said “If men were angels, government would cease to exist” which poses a paradoxical situation of flawed mankind redirecting other faulted humans as there is bound to lapse of judgement between the ideal representation of government versus vice. There is definitely no easy way as to fix this problem as we are too in depth in it, however the idea

The history of political parties in the United States has always hinged upon the key sectarian differences of the times in which such parties were existent. The very foundation of political parties in this country, which began with the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists, is demonstrative of this fact as those two groups were largely split on the issue of national versus states' rights and the implementation of a national bank. As the country matured from its initial beginnings in the latter part of the 18th century, the issues of sectarian differences evolved to include key aspects of sectional proclivities between the North and the South, and the impact of those differences on the burgeoning western portion of the U.S. The South favored slavery and the economic prosperity it brought to that region, whereas the North was in favor of the elimination of slavery and a transition to a more industrial economy. These sectarian distinctions were largely manifested in the political parties of the day, and explain the rise and dissolution of the national Democratic Party, which yielded to the Republican Party whose highly influential president Abraham Lincoln's election was integral in the loss of the Union and the beginning of the Civil War.

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.

Political parties are critical structures in the modern society and universal phenomena in most democracies. In fact, they form major objects of intensive study as they are usually the centre of political and social power. They engage in most activities that are of significant consequence in the lives of citizens and link the common populace to the government. Therefore, it is important to understand political parties fully from every perspective of political systems so obtain their real importance in democracies. A political party is basically a group of citizens who converge as voters, activists, electoral candidates and office holders with a common party label and seek to elect party members into public offices. While modern political

A voter can be defined as an individual who votes, or has the right to vote, in elections. Voting behaviour is explained using the concepts of expressive voting and strategic voting. A rational voter would act more strategically, that is, the voter would vote to produce an election outcome which is as close as possible to his or her own policy preferences, rather than voting on the basis of party attachment, ideology, or social group membership (expressive voting). Strategic voting has become more important than voting on the basis of political cleavages (expressive voting), so voters have become more rational in their approach, however there is always an element of expressiveness in their behaviour. Political parties were initially formed to represent the interests of particular groups in society however, as these parties became more universal in the appeal of their policy programmes, voting behaviour shifted from expressive to strategic. This essay explores the reasons behind the declining importance of political cleavages, and the rise of strategic voting.

We should heed George Washington's advice on political parties because he is shrewd. Political parties do “open the door to foreign influence and corruption”. Money does definitely sway peoples opinion these days. Tension is another factor of political parties because congress may disagree on which side you should take and things can get heated and cause arguments.

If party imbalance disorganizes dominant party minority party is pulverized. Minority doesn't fight. Young people gain dominant party, and second party goes national.