POLITICAL PARTIES AND POLITICS

Political Party

• A group of voters with common interests who want to influence government by campaigning and electing their party’s candidates to office.

Two-Party System

• The traditional format of U.S.’s electoral process.

• Democrats/Republicans….their views differ• Two parties are competing for power.

Third Party

• Minor parties resulting from ideas on specific issues

• May include ethnicity, economic, regional topics

• It challenges the two major parties.

Platform

• A series of statements expressing the party’s principles, beliefs, and positions on election issues

Plank

• Each individual part of the party’s platform.

Democrat vs. Republican

Similarities between parties:• Organize to win elections• Influence public policies• Reflect both liberal and

conservative views• Define themselves in a way

that wins majority support by appealing to the political center.

Differences between parties:• Stated in a party’s platform

and reflected in campaigning.

Third Party Differences

• Introduce new ideas or press for a particular issue

• Often revolve around political personality… for example Teddy Roosevelt.

• They can change the outcome of an election of drawing votes away from one of the main parties.

• Example: Progressive “Bull Moose” Party split the Republican Vote allowing Woodrow Wilson the Democrat to win

Progressive “Bull Moose” Party

National Party Impact

National Committee• Representatives from the 50

state party organizations who run a political party,

National Party Chairperson

• Individual elected by the national committee who manages the daily operations of the national party.

Responsibilities• Raises funds for presidential elections• Organizes the party’s national

convention• Create informational websites about

candidates• Fun-raising for campaigning• Create advertisements for radio and TV

What happens at the National Convention?

• Delegates write the party’s platform.

• Delegates nominate the party’s presidential candidate.

• Speeches and demonstrations to support the candidate.

Roles and Functions of Political Parties

• Nominate candidates• Campaign• Inform citizens• Linking levels of

government• Acting as a watchdog

Function of Political Party• Recruit and nominate

candidates• Educate the electorate

about campaign issues• Help candidates win

elections• Monitoring actions of

officeholders.

Roles of Political Parties

State and Local Committees

State Committees• Electing party

candidates to state offices

• Elect their party’s candidates for national offices

Local Committees• These are town, city

and county committees• Committees include

people elected by their fellow party members

Political Machine

• Strong party organization that can control political appointments and deliver votes

Media’s Role

• Strategies for evaluating campaign speeches, literature, and advertisements for accuracy.– Strategies are: separating fact from opinion,

detecting bias, evaluating sources, identifying propaganda

• Separating Fact From Opinion– Facts can be proven by

checking them against other resources

– Opinions usually cannot be proven

– Opinions are more reliable when the writer gives facts to support them

• Detecting Bias– Bias is often attached to

issues that have an impact on people’s emotions

– Decide whether the piece of info presents only one side of an issue, while suggesting it covers all sides.

– Determine if the info is supported by opinions or facts

– Look for hidden assumptions generalizations not supported by facts.

• Evaluating sources– Ask yourself a few

questions– Who’s the author?

Credentials?– Is it current information?– What kind of media is it

found?– What’s the purpose of the

article/info?– Is the info facts or

opinions? What evidence is there to support it?

– Are there pictures, graphs, tables to support info?

• Identifying propaganda– Endorsement– Glittering generality– Bandwagon– Name calling– Just plain folks– Stacked cards– Symbols

Mass Media’s role in Elections

• Identifying candidates• Emphasizing selected

issues• Writing editorials,

creating political cartoons, publishing opinionated pieces.

• Broadcasting different points of view

Political Cartoons

•Who are the main characters in the cartoon?•What do they represent?•Describe the action in the cartoon.•What’s the purpose of the cartoon?