Democratic Party and Liberalism Liberalism and democracy have existed together for quite some time, especially in the United States. To understand liberalism in America, it is important first to under the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party involves politicians and objectives that share liberal views on society and regulation. The Democratic Party exists as one of two primary modern political parties within the United States, alongside its conservative right wing counterpart, the

The best that they can hope for is to influence a political party to get behind their cause and vote to have it adopted. Political parties on the other hand, have the power and ability to change laws and mandates by their voting clout. References Democratic Party (accessed 5-1-07) http://www.democrats.org/a/party/history.html Interest Groups (accessed 5-1-07) http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0216125-00&templatename=/article/article.html Republican Party (accessed 5-1-07) http://www.mcgop.net/History.htm Walker, Jack L., Jr., Mobilizing Interest Groups in America (Univ. Of Mich. Press 1991).

classical theoretical model of political parties and point out the differences between this model and the two principal American political parties. The classical theoretical model of political parties in the United States parties holds that these parties exist primarily to control government and to gain power rather than to promote a given ideology. The classical model maintains that in order to prosper and retain viability, political parties must adjust to

However, class-based differences in party identification remained prominent and actually grew stronger in the 1970s and 1980s, with upper-class and middle-class individuals identifying more strongly with the Republican Party" (309). Likewise, Pomerantz (1999) notes that, "While people change their party identity only rarely, the significance of that affiliation waxes and wanes over time" (37). Citing the research conducted by Wattenberg based on data collected in the National Election Studies

Third Parties The founding fathers of the United States were initially opposed to the formation of political parties considering them as "quarreling factions" that would hinder the public from freely judging issues on merit. The complex structure of the U.S. government with its elaborate system of checks and balances and division of power among the state and federal governments, however, makes the formation of permanent political organizations necessary for effective functioning

Republicans regained control of Congress. This election and the current political climate have brought into question the usefulness of political parties. The purpose of this discussion is to review the American political parties and to investigate whether or not the parties are useful. In addition we will discuss if American democracy could function better without political parties and review whether or not a multi-party system would be preferable to