Chapter 7
There is considerable dispute over
the viability and importance of American political parties, even among well‑informed
and perceptive analysts. For instance, The Party's Over is the title of a well‑known
book written in the 1970s by columnist David Broder,
while The Party's Just Begun is the
title of a more recent book by political scientist Larry Sabato. It is not surprising, then, that your
students will also be confused over the role of parties. The third-party candidacy of Ross Perot in
1992 and 1996 and that of Ralph Nader in 2000 just
confused things even more. Opinions
about political parties often fall into two categories: parties are irrelevant and worthless, or
parties dominate all aspects of political life.
As is usually the case, the truth lies somewhere in between.
The authors note that although
parties have existed since the first decade of the new government's existence,
Americans have always had ambivalent feelings about them. Parties are necessary, and they perform vital
functions. But they have always been
complicated, full of internal conflict, disorganized and decentralized, rigid
but capable of being taken over by reformers.
In fact, they often mirror American society and are deeply rooted in the
democratic process.
LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
1. Explain
the functions of political parties and the extent to which they are currently
being
performed
by American political parties.
2. Describe
the methods used by parties to nominate candidates and how these methods have
changed over time.
3. Compare the American two‑party
system with the multiparty system.
4. Discuss
factors that are associated with the emergence of third parties and independent
candidates.
5. Explain how closed and open primaries
work.
6. Trace the development of political
parties and the two-party system in
7. Explain why the electorate prefers
divided government.
8. Identify key characteristics of
American political parties today.
9. Define
the main function of the national committees and the main job of the national
party chair.
10. Outline party organization below the
national level.
11. Analyze
how the public perceives the parties to be different and the role of party
platforms in revealing or concealing those differences.
12. Explain the structure and function of
parties in government.
13. Examine why parties remain important in
the electorate.
14. Evaluate
whether the
15. Debate whether political parties are
dying.
16. Trace
the development of the political parties, especially as a response to changing
ideas of party reform.
17. Examine
the problems of soft money and outside issue advocacy as they relate to the
principle of accountability.
18. Review the seven categories of party
identification.
19.
Explain
how and why the parties were so evenly divided in the 2000 presidential
election.
20 Explain how party systems work in