AP US Gov Political Parties Notes

I.               What is a political party?

A.             Political party- trying to gain control over government by running candidates and getting them elected (an organization that runs candidates for office; it seeks to gain control over the government)

B.             Interest groups advocate for a certain issue and try to influence government policy; they educate people in the process

C.            We have 2 main parties, but many “3^rd Parties” or minor parties

D.            These parties have changed over the years

E.             Democratic party has always existed (Was Democratic Republican, then starting with Andrew Jackson it became the Democratic party)

II.              Why we have a two party system/ 3^rd Parties

A.             Public Opinion

1.             We only have two major parties because public opinion on key issues is pretty consistent (economy, governmental system)- we all share a common view and believe in a certain view of capitalism, democracy, freedom of speech. This concept is called The American Ideological Consensus, which means that we agree on ideology.  We don’t have the same class systems- we have social mobility- we have people who could be born into the working class and become rich.  Everyone is part of the “middle” the two parties try to appeal to these middle people

B.             Our election system makes it hard for 3^rd parties to win

1.             Plurality voting- the person who gets the most votes wins- this hurts third parties because if you have a system where you need more than 50% the third party can use its votes as a bargaining chip, but we don’t have this, so the third parties have nothing over the bigger parties. In America, no one needs 50%, so this does nothing for the third parties

2.             Single Member Districts/Winner Takes all- Only one person wins- this is no true in other countries, they have proportional representation. You wouldn’t have to win an election to get seats. In America, plurality wins, and whoever gets the most votes wins. The biggest most dramatic example of the winner take all is the electoral college. Only one person wins, we don’t take percentages and carve it up to divide it all up

III.            Third Parties

A.             Why do these 3^rd parties run in America?

1.             They play the role of innovator: They force the major parties to adopt certain ideas. They raise awareness of ideas, or they come up with new ideas. Force other parties to take clear cut stands on issues. They are a voice for the people that feel alienated from govt/have ideas that aren't popular. They are a safety valve for discontent.  

B.             FRQ on Minor parties

1.             The people voting for the third parties are wasting their votes by voting for them

2.             Winner Take All System (No proportional System) and Single Member Districts. One is for president one is for congress. Campaign finance laws hurt minor parties more than major parties. They are excluded from presidential debate because a person has to have over a certain percentage of the population to debate. Federal funding for candidates don’t help them because they don’t have a big enough percent of the population

3.             Pushes new ideas and educate people about them, and try to push the major parties to adopts these ideas

C.            Four Types of Minor Parties

1.             Ideological

a)             Have lasted the longest

b)             Want to make big changes

c)             Socialist, Communist, Green, Libertarian

2.             Single Issue Political Parties

a)             Bring up new ideas and issues

b)             Focus on one issue, and often times the issue is brand new

c)             Prohibition Party, Marijuana Party

3.             Economic Protest Parties

a)             Want to move the economy in a different direction

b)             Usually based on region

c)             Populist party

4.             Factional parties

a)             Breakoff from one of the 2 major parties

b)             1948 2 different parties broke off from the Democratic party (one broke of for states rights, the other was a progressive organization that wanted change and wanted more radical changes)

2/28/12

IV.            Realignment Elections

A.             A period of time when one party gains control of the government and solidifies that control for a long period of time.  It operates under unified government, because you need control of Congress and the President to change the direction of the country both socially and economically

1.             Some argue that Reagan’s election in 1980 was a realigning election, but he never had control over the House.  There was still divided government, and the Republicans did not control the presidency and Congress.  Reagan still moved the country in a conservative direction, and many people moved to vote in Reagan’s direction (Reagan Democrats)

B.             Five Realignments

1.             1800- Jefferson became president and the Democratic-Republicans defeated the Federalists and took over, and there was a peacefully transfer of power

2.             1828- Jackson became president.  There was a shift in support because there were no more property restrictions on voting, so the common people voted for Jackson who advocated for the common man.  This election put the Democrats on course to become a major party

3.             1860- Whig Party collapsed and Republicans came to power with Lincoln.  The two parties (Democrats and Whigs) were struggled over the issue of slavery- neither party addressed the issue directly, so the Republicans (who were a 3^rd party at the time) came to power because they had a clear view on slavery.  It was an issue that led to realignment (slavery).

4.             1896- Republicans defeated William Jennings Bryan.  The Populist Party supported suffering farmers and broke off from the Democrats.  Bryan got the Democratic nomination and adopted the Populist platform, and the Republicans won because the Democrats who were against the Populists voted for the Republican candidate (key issue- economics).  The country was not divided between the North and South, now it was East vs. West (urban vs. rural).

5.             1932- FDR and the New Deal.  Before this most blacks were Republicans, and FDR brought them into the Democratic Party.  FDR got everyone in his coalition- blacks, Jews, minorities.  He took the government in a totally different direction with social programs and protecting the lower classes.  (key issue- Great Depression and a new role for government playing a bigger role in our lives)

C.            Lanahan- Was 2008 a realignment election?

1.             No

a)             More Democrats turned out than Republicans.  Democrats were more enthusiastic about Obama, while Republicans weren’t enthusiastic about McCain and Palin.  This represents a lack of enthusiasm, but not a shift form one party to another

b)             Enthusiasm for the Democratic party was not based on ideas, it could have just been a one time thing because people like Obama’s personality

c)             People were not thinking about foreign policy as much (Republican strength) and were more focused on the economy, so they looked toward a Democrat.  Hypothetically, if there was a national security crisis, people may support a Republican candidate

d)             In hindsight (not in Lanahan)

(1)           We don’t have unified government anymore- Republicans took control of the House

(2)           Tea Party Movement

2.             Yes

a)             The white population is going down and the Hispanic population is going up, and Republicans don’t do well with minorities.  Proportionally fewer white people voted in 2008, which signifies a long term trend of the decline in whites

b)             Young voters voted for Obama and can be lifelong Democrats

c)             Shift in attitude- we now believe in an activist government, which fits in to the ideology of the Democrats

3.             It’s too early to tell whether 2008 was a realigning election or not

V.             Learn on your own- political machines and differences between political parties in US and Europe

VI.             

AP US Gov Political Participation Notes

Chapter 6

2/14/12

I.               History of voting- expansion of suffrage

A.             Voting in 1789

1.             Only property holders or tax payers could vote

2.             Women, blacks, and poor farmers couldn’t vote

3.             High voting turnout

4.             Voted for less offices- only voted directly for the House on the national level

B.             In the 1820s (Jackson) all white men got the right to vote

C.            15^th amendment- 1870

1.             National government got involved to extend suffrage

2.             Gave black men the right to vote

D.            Southern states still found ways to deny blacks the right to vote

1.             The 15^th amendment was interpreted that you can’t deny someone the right to vote based on race, but there are other ways to deny the right to vote

2.             Literacy Test

a)             You have to take a test to vote

b)             The test was a complicated test on US government, so most blacks were either illiterate or just couldn’t pass

3.             Poll Tax

a)             Had to pay a tax to vote

b)             Blacks were poor, so they couldn’t pay the tax

4.             Grandfather Clause

a)             If you have ancestors that voted before 1867, you have the right to vote

b)             This was for white people who couldn’t pass the literacy test or pay the poll tax

5.             White primary

a)             Only whites could vote in primaries

b)             This could not be restricted by the government because the primaries were run by the parties themselves, not the government

6.             Intimidation

E.             Voting Rights Act 1965

1.             Assured that all black people would get the right to vote

2.             Sent federal officials to southern states to supervise elections to make sure blacks could register and vote safely

3.             Poll tax, literacy test, and white primary were all eliminated

F.             19^th amendment- 1920

1.             Gave women the right to vote

2.             Some women had the right to vote before 1920 because some states gave women the right to vote

a)             Western states were the ones who gave women the right to vote because women settled that land with the men

3.             The turnout after women got the vote stayed the same, and did not favor one party over the other

G.            26^th amendment- 1971

1.             Eighteen year olds got the right to vote

2.             Some had the right to vote before the amendment because some states allowed 18 year olds to vote

3.             This also did not have such a big influence on changing voting

4.             Even though they vote in low numbers, 18-20 year olds participate politically in other ways

2/15/12

II.              Voter Turnout- why are our numbers lower than in other countries?

A.             Registration system

1.             It is harder to register here.  In other countries you are registered automatically, but in America you have to do the work by yourself

a)             If registration was easier, turnout would be higher

2.             Motor-Voter Bill 1993

a)             When you register for a driver’s license you can also register to vote

(1)           You can do it in the mail

(2)           Basically made it easier to sign up

b)             Republicans were against it

(1)           Thought it would be mostly minorities who sign up, and their votes would go to the Democrats

c)             Increased the number of Independents.  Did not hurt either party

d)             This law did not really impact turnout or change elections

B.             People like to participate in other ways

1.             We may not vote in the same numbers as other countries, but we are very politically active in other ways

C.            Turnout was higher in the 1800s and early 1900s.  Why has it gone down?

1.             There is not a real decline because back then it was easier to have fraud and cheat the system.  Nowadays, there is no cheating because we have secret ballots, and elections are supervised closely

2.             Voter turnout has declined because back then political parties motivated people to vote.  But now the parties are weaker and less involved because of areas that are solidified as supporting a certain party

D.            Other countries vote on weekends, which is easier for people to vote

E.             Voting rates have gone down, but other means of participation is going up

2/16/12

III.            POV on voter turnout

A.             Lijphart

1.             Low voter turnout is bad

a)             Low voter turnout is a sign that only certain groups are voting, and those groups will have more control over the government (white, high income, educated)

b)             If only 25% of the population picked Clinton as president, do we really have a true democracy?  If such a low percentage of people vote, then we don’t have a true democracy/ representative government

2.             Ways to increase turnout

a)             Weekend voting

b)             Making registration easier (but this can make fraud more likely)

c)             All elections on one day

d)             Easy access to absentee ballots

e)             Proportional representation- more people would vote because they would feel that their vote counts more

3.             Compulsory voting is the best way to increase turnout

a)             If you don’t vote, you are fined by the government

(1)           Fines are usually very small, and government cannot strictly enforce it

b)             Compulsory voting can also help our political system

(1)           Reduce the influence of money in politics- political parties spend a lot of money to get people to vote, so if people are going to be fined if they don’t vote they will be pressured to vote, and political parties won’t need to try as hard to get people to vote

(2)           Reduce negative advertising.  These ads are used to get people to vote, but if people are forced to vote the campaigns won’t feel the need to run negative ads

c)             Isn’t it undemocratic to force people to vote?

(1)           Government forces you to do things already- drafted to the army, pay taxes, jury duty

(2)           No one can force you to cast a valid ballot, you can just be forced to show up.  Once you’re in the booth, it’s a secret ballot so no one will know if you voted or not

d)             Compulsory voting is an extension of universal suffrage

B.             Ranney

1.             It’s not bad that voter turnout is low, as long as it is voluntary non voting (people choose not to vote)

a)             People who don’t vote have the same ideas as voters.  They have the same policy preferences as voters

b)             Nonvoters are not cynical of the government

c)             When nonvoters suddenly vote, there are no major shifts

2.             Is nonvoting a reflection of poor civic health (people don’t like government)?

a)             It might seem that way, but according to studies there is not real evidence that nonvoting is a sign of poor civic health

b)             People participate in other ways- those numbers are going up

3.             Forcing people to vote offends the values of democracy

4.             Ways to increase turnout (without compulsory voting)

a)             Easier registration

b)             Get rid of involuntary nonvoting (people being denied to vote- felons, bad day/time to vote, long lines at polls)

c)             Mobilize voters through private organizations/ civic groups- educate people about voting to get more people to vote

IV.             

AP Chemistry Solubility Rules

AP US Gov Public Opinion Notes

1/30/12      

How are candidates chosen for the presidential election?

I.               What is the difference between a primary and a caucus?

A.             States decide whether they have a primary or a caucus

B.             Primary

1.             You walk into a voting booth and vote for a nominee for a political party to run in an election

2.             It’s like any other election

3.             First introduced in the early 1910-20s progressive era (people wanted more democracy and more influence over government- we got to vote for senators directly during this period), but took hold in the 1960s

4.             Three types of primaries- up to the individual states to decide

a)             Open primary- anyone can vote in the primary.  You don’t need to be a member of that party to vote

b)             Closed primary- you have to be a member of the political party to vote in the primary

c)             Blanket primary- like voting in a general election.  You can switch back and forth in parties for different offices like in a general election (no states use this anymore)

5.             Secret Ballot

C.            Caucus

1.             Instead of going to a booth to vote, people gather in a room and debate the nominees and then write down who they vote for

2.             Takes a few hours, so they are more influenced by activists who are heavily involved in the political process, especially caucuses because they require a commitment

3.             Publicly voting

D.            Front-loading- when states try move up their primary date to have more influence

1.             If a state tries to make its primary too early/before Iowa and New Hampshire, the national party might punish the state and not allow its delegates to vote at the national convention

2.             This year, Florida moved up its primary so as a punishment only half their delegates can go and vote at the convention (this also happened in 2008)

II.              How were presidential candidates picked before the primary system?

A.             Party caucuses in Congress picked presidential candidates (occurred up until the 1820s)

B.             1820s- set up National Nominating Conventions, where each party would meet and choose the candidate for their party to run in the election

1.             For the first 100 years it was the party elites who would be at the conventions and choose the nominees (average people did not have a say)

a)             Convention was exciting because you did not know who would get the nomination

2.             In the 1920s primaries and caucuses were adopted and gave people a say in choosing nominees.  It became widely accepted in the 1960s.  The party bosses did not have all the power, the people had a voice too

1/31/12

III.            The National Convention

A.             Occurs 2 months before the general election in October

B.             Before we had primaries, the conventions were very important because the nominees were picked at the conventions.  Now that we have primaries and caucuses, we usually know who the nominee is going to be

C.            What is the purpose of the convention today if it is not about picking the candidates?

1.             Sometimes they announce and formerly introduce the vice presidential nominee

2.             Motivate the party to get support for the election

3.             Officially introduce the nominee

4.             Write the party platform- the party’s goals and beliefs

D.            Brokered Convention- if no candidate gets a majority of delegates

1.             Each delegate is sent to the convention pledged to vote for a certain candidate who they are loyal to.  Each candidate gets a certain amount of delegates based on how many votes they got in the primary/caucus for each state (if a state has proportional primary/caucus a candidate gets delegates based on the percent of votes he got in a primary/caucus.  If a state has winner takes all primary/caucus the candidate who wins gets all the delegates for that state to the convention)

2.             Going into the convention you don’t know who the nominee is

3.             The Delegates go and cast their first vote to the candidate they pledged loyalty, and then after the first vote if no candidate gets a majority the delegates can vote for anyone they want

E.             The democratic party has superdelegates

1.             They are not pledged to vote for a certain candidate.  They can vote for whoever they want and can swing an election against the will of the primary/caucus voters

2.             Consist of Democratic members of Congress and democrats who served in office

3.             The democratic party created it to check the liberal wing of the democratic party.  The superdelegates make sure no one too liberal is nominated to run in the presidential election because they know someone who is too liberal could not win the national vote

2/1/12

IV.            Religion and US Politics

A.             Religion plays a major role in US politics and policy, unlike other democracies where religion is pushed to the side

B.             More people in the US consider themselves religious than people in other countries

1.             People in Europe would laugh that our political debates include disagreement over saying “under G-d” in the Pledge of Allegiance, and faith based programs (most religious people think it is ok for government money to go to churches/synagogues that have charity organizations).  In Europe, people don’t want their tax money going to religious organizations- there is a bitterness towards religious institutions

2.             We are unique for out culture war

a)             Other countries are all about class warfare.  In the US its all about culture wars

b)             Cultural issues over values are what distinguish us, not classes

2/3/12

C.            The Culture Wars

1.             Began in the 60s

a)             People began questioning American values (civil rights, feminism)

b)             People were moving away from religion and were not so conservative anymore.  More people were becoming progressive, questioning traditional values and refusing to conform

2.             Orthodox viewpoint

a)             Morality is consistent over time and does not change.  There are absolute truths that do not change

b)             Keep the same rules otherwise society will fall apart

c)             Traditional morality is more important that individual rights

d)             Religion holds society together by providing absolute values to live by

3.             Progressive viewpoint

a)             Believe that change is ok

b)             Individual rights need to be respected and are more important than traditional morals

4.             How real is the culture wars?

a)             Some feel the culture wars are played up by the political parties to get people to vote

2/6/12

Factors that affect public opinion

V.             Different regions of the country

A.             The Northeast tends to be more liberal- even Republicans in the NE tend to be moderate of liberal on social issues

B.             Upper Midwest (Industrial/rust belt) is a liberal area on economic issues (because of all the factories and union members), but can be conservative on social issues (because they are Catholic)

C.            South (bible belt) is heavily Republican/conservative because the Protestants live there.  The trend of the South becoming Republican took hold in the 1960s when LBJ, a democrat from the south, signed the Civil Rights Act

D.            Rocky mountain states tend to be very conservative

E.             West Coast tends to be liberal

VI.            Religion

A.             *The most important form of political socialization is the family- we get our political views through religion in our family

B.             The more religious you are in a group, the more conservative you tend to be

C.            Jews tend to be liberal on economic and social issues

1.             Social status- when Jews came to this country they weren’t treated well, and were helped by the Democrats, so they felt a sense of loyalty to the Democrats

2.             This doesn’t apply as much today because most Jews aren’t poor

3.             Jews feels a responsibility to the community as a whole, so they follow the Democratic party that provides for people

4.             History of Jews and what they went through makes them wary about the government having the power to tell people how to live

D.            Catholics

1.             Liberal on economic issues

a)             Were persecuted when they came to this country, so government help built loyalty to the Democrats

b)             Very into charity (they need it to get into heaven) and believe the government has a role in that

2.             Conservative on social issues

3.             So who do they vote for? 

a)             In the 70s and 80s the trend was for Catholics to move to the Republican party because the Democratic party was becoming too liberal (“Reagan Democrats”)

E.             Protestants

1.             Conservative on economic and social issues

2.             Don’t have the same social mission (to make the world a better place) as Jews and Catholics

a)             They were always the top people in the country

b)             Faith alone is the way to get to heaven, and no hierarchy of religious leaders.  It’s all about individual effort with G-d

VII.          Gender

A.             Gender Gap- men are moving to the Republican party

1.             Gun control, abortion, gay rights, and social programs- the Democratic party has become very liberal on these issues, which made many Democratic men become Republican

2.             Women like these programs, because they are more sensitive to these issues

VIII.         Schooling and race (read on your own)

Ideology

IX.            Political ideologies

A.             Libertarianism

1.             Believe in small government in all areas- social and economic issues

2.             Liberal on social issues and conservative on economic issues- no government intervention in both areas

3.             Government should only get involved when there is a clear violation of rights

4.             Would give a lot more power to the states

B.             Populists

1.             Opposite of Libertarians

2.             Want strong government intervention both socially and economically (social conservative, economic liberal)

3.             This term is also used to describe people who are looking out for the average American

C.            Liberalism

1.             Liberal on social and economic issues

2.             Want government intervention in the economic arena

a)             Believe in high taxes because the government needs money to fund programs for the poor people

b)             Intervention is needed to create a just society

3.             No government intervention on social issues

D.            Conservatism

1.             Conservative on social and economic issues

2.             Government should intervene in social issues but stay out of economic issues

2/8/12

X.             Why Americans Hate Politics- Libertarianism

A.             Today’s Libertarianism is what the conservative movement was before changes in the 1960s

1.             Goldwater was a conservative who ran for president, but really his conservatism was like today’s Libertarianism.  He was a father of modern Conservatism, but then the party moved more right on social issues, and he was not comfortable with that.  He thought that social issues and religion had no place in politics, and was therefore alienated from the Republican party

B.             Why Libertarians broke away from the Conservative movement in the 60s

1.             The Conservative movement was trying to impose values on people and telling people how to live

2.             Foreign policy- the conservatives were being too hawkish and provoking the USSR into a war.  They did not approve of the Vietnam War- we should not impose a certain type of government onto another country

C.            How did the movement become well known and popular?

1.             Reagan attacked government

a)             Reagan promised to reduce the size of government

b)             Reagan promised to cut the national debt, but it didn’t work out and he ended up spending money on defense and increased the national debt

D.            The government should only have the power to do things that we cannot (like raise an army).  Everything else should be done in the market and private organizations

2/9/12

XI.            Lanahan- Public Opinion

A.             Politicians manipulate public opinion

1.             They twist what the constituents want to make them want what they want

B.             Politicians don’t follow public opinion

1.             When Clinton was impeached, the Republicans pushed it through even though polls showed that the people didn’t want him impeached

C.            Crafted talk- manipulate language to influence people to vote a certain way

XII.