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Political parties are a collection of individuals of similar creed organized to aid in electing members to public positions. The constitution does not mention parties and earlier professionals considered them as dangerous or undesirable. Nevertheless, political parties have resulted in the creation of electoral institutions and other incentives that justify their presence. The very first political parties that were established in America tried to form coalitions to help control the government's more organized machinery. The attempts at control soon took an electoral angle. A two-party system would later emerge to steer competition in elections. The system would collapse in the Good Feelings Era but would again emerge in the presidential elections of 1824 after which it gained considerable stability until the present day (Samuel Kernel, Gary C. Jacobson and Thad Kausser).
Polarization in Two-party Competition
From the 1970s, congressional parties have grouped themselves based on geography and ideology. The six New England states' combined house delegation, for example, went from 10 Republicans and 15 Democrats between 1973 and 1974 to 2 Republicans and 20 Democrats between 2011 and 2012. The South's position in 1973-1974 of...
Political scientists have debated whether or not Congress polarization occurred after or before the public was polarized. Currently available data is unlikely to provide answers to this puzzle. The only thing that is clear is that when Congress is polarized, very few things get done as far as legislation is concerned. The number of legislations Congress enacts when there is a lot of infighting is abysmally low. Historically, when there were conflicts, a compromise was reached to get things moving. The current crop of legislators, however, are reluctant to let go of their positions on issues as they tend to be pressured by partisan organizations they represent in their various states. While it is the citizens' view that compromise is good, quite often than not, they want the compromise to be in their favor (Drew Desilver).
Political Inclusion through the Parties
The diverse nature of alliances created during the New Deal illustrates how coalitional politics in America is. The emergence of new issues creates new coalitions. Some politicians are becoming indifferent to parties as is evidenced by third parties and independents win votes in the house. While there are cases of party indifference, the two major parties, Republicans and Democrats, still…
References
Drew Desilver. (2014). The polarized Congress of today has its roots in the 1970s. Pewresearch Center.
Samuel Kernell, Gary C. Jacobson, & Thad Kausser. (2010). Political Parties. In S. Kernell, G. C. Jacobson, & T. Kausser, The Logic of American Politics. Sage CQ Press.
Over the years, the electoral process has changed a lot. As per the original rules, each state legislature selected its electors. The electors would then assemble at a given time and vote for two people. The person with the majority of votes became the president and the runner-up became the vice-president. This system was in practice until the 1800 election. (the Presidential Electoral Process) By 1800, American politics were dominated
Political Parties and Bilingual Education Politics, throughout history, has influenced various decisions. Bilingual Education has been subject to this. This very controversial debate has been a hot political issue throughout all five major political parties. This paper will disucss the background on policy issues, as well as the feelings of the parties regarding bilingual education. It will then throw a pitch as to how to address these differences. Is bilingual education common
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
American Political Parties The Political Impact of Media Bias From 1962 to his retirement in 1981, Walter Cronkite led America through such pivotal events as the Kennedy assassination, the moon landing, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal as the anchor on the CBS Evening News. Each night he would sign off his newscast with his signature sign line "And that's the way it is." As a result, he was identified by