Chapter Eight

● political party

• platform

● independent

● soft money loophole

●National Convention

Buckley v. Valeo (1976)

Citizen United v. FEC 2010

Joining the party 2012

Funny Party Clips:

•Political Parties Rap

•JIB JAB

Topics for Today:

• What are the functions of political parties?

• What are the three components that make up political parties?

• Review major party stances—Differences between Dems and Republicans

The Functions of Political Parties

• Political parties run candidates under their own label or affiliation = Fundamental goal of getting elected

• Parties seek to govern• Parties have broad

concerns, focused on many issues

• Parties are quasi-public organizations that have a special relationship with the government.

Responsible Party Model

A party tries to givevoters a clear choice byestablishing priorities orpolicy stances differentfrom those of the rivalother party or parties.

Three Faces of Political Parties

People in the Electorate

Pearson Education, Inc., Longman © 2008

The Party in the Electorate

Demographic Characteristics of Political Parties

Pearson Education, Inc., Longman © 2008

Party Eras in American History

Party Organization

• Committees

• Headquarters

• Volunteers

• Staff

The party in government

Who is the PARTY IN POWER?What does the party out of power do?What is divided government?

Traditional Political Spectrum More Liberal (Left)—

Want Change—Govt Should be an agent of that Change

More Conservative (Right)

Resist Change—less govt

Moderates

Left Wing RadicalDemand Change even if

Change is VIOLENT change

SocialismCommunism

Pure CapitalismPolitical Fascism

Right Wing Radical“Reactionary”

Want to return to “good old days” even if dong so

requires violence

Democrats Republicans

When I say liberal who and what issues do we think of?

When I say conservative who and what issues do we think

of?

Liberal v. Conservative (in America)

• Liberal = Progressive change within the state led by the government. More government involvement.

– Left leaning

– Secular, --for strong separation of church and state

– Larger role of government in economy

– Less government on social issues

• Conservative = Traditional policies designed to preserve the status quo led by minimal involvement from the government. Less government involvement.

– Right leaning

– Religious (less secular)—the “religious right”

– Minimal Economic Intervention (Laissez-faire)

– More government involvement on social issues

Liberals Conservatives

Role of Government

Taxes

Healthcare

Education

Believe government should play a large role in securing basic public institutions for citizens on economic issues

Believe people should not rely on the government for help—more private than public institutions

Need more taxes to fund public institutions

Believe it should be a public and basic human right—universal and available to every citizen subsidized by the govt.

Believe it should be private and since allowing the govt to control it will destroy quality and lead to inefficiency

For public education and more money for schools

For funding private schools and public vouchers to send kids to private (religious) schools.

Less taxes—means less social programs

Liberals Conservatives

Religion

Environment

Welfare and Medicaid

Social Security

Should be separation of church and state—against school prayer, ten commandments in classrooms

Believes religion has a role in school and should be up to each school to decide what it would like to put in curriculum—creationism or evolution?

For protections even if protection hurts business. Believe global warming is manmade

Not “against” the environment, just not willing to compromise economic interests for environmental ones. Question man’s activity in global warming.

Individual should have it if they need it

Some want it gone entirely, others say Individuals should be limited in how long they can stay on welfare

Keep social security publicly funded

Allow social security to be privatized—allow for individual private accounts

Liberals Conservatives

Abortion

Gay Marriage

Affirmative

Action

Gun Control

Death Penalty

Pro-Choice Pro-Life

For because government has responsibility to provide equal access to all given our history of racism

Against because govt. is not responsible for this and possible reverse racism?

For gun control For gun rights

Against For

For Against

Who are some influential liberals/Democrats and

conservatives/Republicans?

• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6951961/Top-100-US-liberals-and-conservatives.html

• Party System

• Divided Government

• Third Party

• Liberal

• New Deal

• Patronage

• Primary elections

• Split ticket voting

• Realignment

• Superdelegates

Online StopWatch

Topics for Today

• How are parties organized?

• Explain development of political parties in U.S. history.

• Why do we have a two-party system?

• What are third parties and what role do they play?

• Explain the role of money in political parties and elections.

THINK!!

• What were the first political parties?

• What is the difference between spoils and patronage?

• Give an example of a REALIGNING election---explain.(critical election or political realignment)

• Give 2 trends that show DEALIGNMENT

• Why a 2 party system?....check him out

FRQ: 2006

Ch. 8 FRQ Rubric:• Part a: 1 point for accurate description of

cartoonist: (voting for a third party is throwing away a vote)

• Part b: 4 points (1 point for each identification, 1 point for the description): Winner take all aspect of electoral college, Ballot access, campaign financing (rules/limits), federal funding of presidential elections, exclusion from presidential debates, single-member plurality districts

• Part c: 2 points (1 point for each of 2 descriptions

New or different ideas or issues

Voice for fringe

Safety valve for discontent

Enhanced participation

Room for critical voices

Pushes major parties to include otherwise underrepresented concerns/groups

Clarify major party candidates’ positions

Party Organization

National Convention, National Party Committees (DNC, RNC)

National Chair (if party out of power—leader of loyal opposition

Buckley v. Valeo (1976) strengthened

History of Political History of Political PartiesParties

11stst System: Development of Parties, System: Development of Parties, 1789-18281789-1828

22ndnd System: Democrats’ Rise to Power, System: Democrats’ Rise to Power, 1828-1860 (populism) (spoils system)1828-1860 (populism) (spoils system)

33rdrd System: Republican’ Rise to Power, System: Republican’ Rise to Power, 1860-1896 (political machine/patronage)—1860-1896 (political machine/patronage)—Whigs faded.. ..GOP aroseWhigs faded.. ..GOP arose

44thth System: Republican Dominance, System: Republican Dominance, 1896-19321896-1932

55thth System: 1932 Elections: Example of System: 1932 Elections: Example of realignment realignment Democratic Dominance, 1932-Democratic Dominance, 1932-1968 (New Deal)1968 (New Deal)

A New Party System? Dealignment? A New Party System? Dealignment? Split-ticket voting/ third parties/ More Split-ticket voting/ third parties/ More candidate centeredcandidate centered

Two Party Dominance

Reasons for two-party dominanceReasons for two-party dominance::

• Dualist nature of most conflicts

• Winner-Take-All system vs. Proportional Representation

• Socialization to the two-party system (tradition)

• Election laws favor the two-party system

-What does Two-Party System mean? What is a One-Party system? What is a Multi-Party system? Which is more stable?

-What are Third Parties?

PLURALITY

Advantages to the 2-party system?• Political Stability• The major parties are a known-quantity and therefore safe.• Easy to understand the difference between two parties

versus several. • No coalition building among competing parties that is

needed in parliamentary systems.

Are 3rd Parties in our out of the Mainstream?

Common 3rd Parties

• Green Party• Libertarian Party• Reform Party

Lesser known 3rd Parties

• Communist Party USA • American Heritage Party • Independence Party• American Reform Party • Constitution Party• Family Values Party• Freedom Socialist Party / Radical Women • Labor Party • Light Party• Peace & Freedom Party• Prohibition Party• Socialist Party USA• U.S. Pacifist Party • Veterans Party of America• Natural Law Party• THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH

Types of 3rd Parties• Issue Advocacy Parties

– Single issue, usually short-lived because issue either dies or is adopted by a major party

• Ideologically Oriented Parties– Broad set of issues: Green, Reform, Libertarian,

Socialists Party• Splinter Parties—break off from main party

– Historically most successfully– Bull-Moose Party (T. Roosevelt)– State’s Rights Party “Dixicrats” (pro-segragationist

Democrats in the South)

What do third parties do?• Improve the system by focusing on issues

– Sometimes their issues are picked up by a major party• Provide discontented or disaffected voters with a choice

– Provide a voice for the “fringe” • Act as a “spoiler” in election

Election 1992

Nominee Bill Clinton George H. W. Bush Ross Perot

Party Democratic Republican IndependentElectoral vote 370 168 0

Popular vote 44,909,806 39,104,550 19,743,821

Percentage 43.0% 37.4% 18.9%

Election 2000Presidential Candidate

Vice PresidentialCandidate

PoliticalParty

Popular Vote

Electoral Vote

George W. Bush

Richard Cheney Republican 50,459,624 47.87% 271 50.4%

Albert Gore Jr. Joseph Lieberman Democrat 51,003,238 48.38% 266 49.4%

Ralph Nader Winona LaDuke Green 2,882,985 2.74% 0 0.0%

PresidentialCandidate

Vice PresidentialCandidate

PoliticalParty

Popular VoteElectoral

Vote

George W. Bush Richard Cheney Republican 2,912,790 48.85% 25

Albert Gore Jr. Joseph Lieberman Democrat 2,912,253 48.84% 0

Ralph Nader Winona LaDuke Green 97,488 1.63% 0

Florida Vote—2000 Election

Traditional Political Spectrum More Liberal (Left)—

Want Change—Govt Should be an agent of that Change

More Conservative (Right)

Resist Change—less govt

Moderates

Left Wing RadicalDemand Change even if

Change is VIOLENT change

SocialismCommunism

Pure CapitalismPolitical Fascism

Right Wing Radical“Reactionary”

Want to return to “good old days” even if dong so

requires violence

Democrats Republicans

Nader

Nader in 2008

• Announcing candidacy on Meet the Press

• Daily show interview

Can we think of a way to eliminate the Spoiler Effect of 3rd Parties??

• Run-off elections, or Instant Run-off Voting (IRV)• (Instant Run-off clip)

Public Opinion on 3rd Parties

CLIP

Parties inParties inthethe

2121stst Century Century

• Neo-Conservative Republicans

• New Democrats

• The Effect of the Internet on Parties

Buckley v. Valeo (1976)• Independent Expenditure is a political activity

intended to assist or oppose a specific candidate for office which is made without their cooperation, approval, or direct knowledge. Most commonly, this takes the form of advertising.

• Groups which frequently make use of independent expenditures include political party committees, political action committees, and 527 groups.

• The decision to allow independent campaign expenditures came about in a 1976 Supreme Court case, Buckley v. Valeo.

Soft Money vs. Hard Money

• Soft Money: donations generally to the political parties, and are are not contributed directly to candidate’s campaigns, but can be spent on advertising (especially against other party) and other campaign related items.

• Hard Money: money given directly to a candidate’s campaign per person per election

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 2002 (BCRA) aka McCain-

FeingoldBefore McCain-Feingold :• Soft Money: unlimited (given to

parties)• Hard Money: limited by federal law

(to candidates) - $1,000 federal limit per person per election directly to candidate, $20,000 to party for election related spending, and $5,000 to PAC for candidate.

After McCain-Feingold (Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002):

• Soft Money: banned (except certain non-profits (527 Groups) – which we will talk about)

• Hard Money: limited by federal law (to candidates) - $2,000 federal limit per person per election directly to candidate, $25,000 to party for election related spending, and $5,000 to PAC for candidate.

527 Groups• After McCain-Feingold, how can groups like

MoveOn.org and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth run these ads?

• These groups take advantage of a tax loophole, to raise unlimited funds to use against candidates.

• The IRS tax code 26 U.S.C. § 527 from 1986 allows the creation of groups that can raise funds influence the nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates for public office. These have been dubbed 527 Groups from the tax code and the parties have used these groups to funnel funds.

• Some political scientists say this is the new soft money!

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

From the New York Times

From a Bush 2004 Reelection Campaign Blog

The conservative journal the National

Review mocks MoveOn.org and the

democratic loss of the 2004 election.

The reality is both parties benefit significantly from 527s!

So who the heck enforces these campaign finance laws

anyway?• The Federal Elections Commission (FEC)

oversees all campaign financing.• It is an independent regulatory agency created

in 1975 by the United States Congress to administer and enforce campaign finance legislation in the United States.

• The Commission is made up of six members, who are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate, both of who are elected officials who are heavily invested in the current system and many of the penalties are considered weak by many.

Filing with the FEC• Most candidates for federal offices file financial

statements with the FEC quarterly.• This includes itemized details of fundraising from

individual people if the amount received from an individual totals more than $200 during a year; contributions from party committees, PACs, and candidates regardless of amount; loans received by committees and other kinds of receipts.

• This is called disclosure. Even relatives are limited in the amount they can donate to a person’s campaign.

• They must also (to an extent) report how much money they make a year.

That is how we know this…

• Romney – worth between $190 and $250 million (the FEC allows candidates to calculate a range based on their investments)

• Giuliani – $18.1 and $70.4 million• Clinton - $10 to $50 million• McCain - $21 million to $32 million• Edwards – $29.5 million• Obama – $456,000 and $1.1 million• And the poorest candidate was: Kucinich –

$196,000 and $352,000(from CNN)

Citizens United v. FEC• A provision of the Bipartisan Campaign

Reform Act prohibiting unions, corporations and not-for-profit organizations from broadcasting electioneering communications within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary election violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

• So now, unions, corporations, and not-for profit groups can run ads— “electioneering” without limit!

Study the Chapter:

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