Membership

-who can be a member of a party?

Anyone -requirements? Declare yourself a member -What Party Members Do? - Promote party ideas - Get party candidates elected (raise money)

- Register voters

Anyone who wants to can be a member of a political party, all you have to do is declare yourself a member. Party members assist the political party on all levels (national, state, and local) by spreading the partys ideas, helping to raise money and get candidates elected, and registering people to vote.

Political Philosophy

-Conservatives-- person who favors less government or a government that is less involved in peoples lives and is less open to reforming ideas
Republican, Right Wing -Liberals-- people who are in favor of more government involvement and may be more open to reform Democrat, Left Wing -Moderates-- person who is somewhere in-between the major political parties and may have some beliefs which favor one side and other beliefs that favor the other party On the fence

Republicans

-beliefs? Conservative = LESS government involvement Status quo (keep things the same) -demographics?

Rural/suburbs, older, college educated, racial majority

Democrats -tend to believe in? Liberal = MORE government involvement in peoples lives Want to reform (change) things they see are wrong (poverty) -demographic features

Urban, young, religious minority, racial minority

Organization -local -precincts-- Term for a district or area Cast ballots in the same place (major focus of political parties) -state

National Level and Committee develops party goals and nominates candidates for President

-national
-political machine when a party so strongly controls an area that the opposing party offers little resistance Not in practice today

States have their own committees to try to get people elected to carry out those goals in that state

Local levels (counties, cities, wards, precincts) volunteer and work to educate voters and get them to the polls

Local Level -most important level Political parties really focus here -all voting takes place here In precincts -most volunteers work at this level -elections here affect people the most Voters care more about local politicians Also called the grassroots level

State, National Level

-Focuses on several elections

All members have the same goals, no matter what level they work on -Lots of funds spent at this level National level

-party goals developed at this level

Developed by national committee, led by national chairperson -National Conventions-- Meeting held every four years when Presidential candidates are chosen and the party develops official policy beliefs

Party Platform
-statement of a partys beliefs and goals
Outlines what the party wants to get accomplished

-planks-- what the partys policy is on a single issue

-developed at National Party Conventions Delegates from each state write the platform and nominate the national candidates -not representative of all party members Just delegates

Every political party develops a party platform, a statement of beliefs of goals that the party wants to accomplish. Every different idea (or issue) placed on the platform is called a plank. Not all party ideas (or planks) make it onto the partys national platform.

Select and Support -Selecting Candidates Voters choose candidates they believe best support the partys ideas -Supporting Candidates Raise money for the campaign

Help get ideas to voters

Register people to vote -Patronage Giving jobs to your supporters

Political party members, on all levels, help to support candidates by raising money for campaigns (usually through dinners and rallies), helping spread ideas to new voters, and registering people to vote. Sometimes, people who do a great deal of work for the political party and show major support will receive a job in the federal government through a system called patronage.

Information

-Informing the Public

-Keep voters aware of party goals and objectives -help candidates get elected to office

Political parties work to get information out to the public, not only about their candidates, but also about the ideas they want to accomplish in their party platforms. They do this through a series of public rallies and speeches, creating pamphlets, mailings, and advertisements, and creating websites about the candidates and the major issues.

-Methods?? Speeches and rallies Pamphlets/advertisements Create websites

Peoples Beliefs -Grassroots Movement -term applied to a political idea or movement that starts with citizen organization

Campaigning on the local level

-Popular Sovereignty -idea that people have the right to rule themselves Convince people to vote (for their candidate) -more involved citizens
The grassroots level is typically the most important to political parties, because they can start with the citizens and their interests and beliefs. For this reason, political parties work at this local level to try to get more citizens involved in politics and active in their democracy.

Get people involved in politics and elections

Watch Dogs

-Political Parties keep watch over each other

-why???

Look for mistakes or misuse of power

Opposing party criticizes current party and offers solutions
Today, political parties serve as watch dogs to ensure good government. While the other party is in control (President, Congress, state levels), the other major parties wait for them to make mistakes. Then, they consistently point those mistakes out to the American public. While this works to ensure good government and alert citizens to corruption, they also do this to offer suggestions of how to do things better. That way, voters will pick their party in the next election.

-insures good government Makes sure they do their job well

-alerts citizens to corruption

Do this with hopes of winning future elections

Linking Government -Parties help connect the different levels of government -President -Congress -Governors -State Legislatures -Local Governments If all are connected they can work together better Easier to attack mutual problems

Party Roles Today

-Parties are weaker today than in the past

Confusion about party beliefs -less party loyalty

Factions within the parties

-more media influences -non-partisan elections -Elections that do not allow the use of political parties---usually for position that are seen as nonpolitical such as school boards And judges (states)

Today, political parties are weaker than they have been in the past. This is due partly to less party loyalty and confusion about party beliefs. Also, with the influence of modern media, parties have developed more moderate positions to attract more voters. Therefore, many people have no clear definition of what party membership means.