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.             

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