| Questions |
Answers |
| What is a political party? | A group that seeks to elect candidates to public office by supplying them with a label by which they are known to the electorate |
| What are the three arenas in which political arenas in which political parties are found? | A political party exists as a label, an organization, and a set of leaders |
| What are characteristics of a powerful political party? | A powerful party is one whose label has a strong appeal to voters, whose organization can decide who will be candidates and how their campaigns will run, and whose leaders can dominate all branches of the government. Basically a really squared away one |
| In general, have political parties gotten stonger or weaker in the three arenas (labels, organizarions, and leaders) that they exist in? | Overall they have gotten weaker |
| European Political Parties run very differently from American ones. Describe how the long, grueling process of paperwork and campaigning one must go through to become a candidate for elective office. | Yeah I was kinda being sarcastic. Actually, In European countries, the only actual way to become a candidate is to be nominated by the party leaders. |
| How are campaings run in European Countries? Who runs them? | Campaigns are run by and are funded by the the party not by the candidate. REMEMBER YOU FOOL - The party not the candidate! |
| What is the difference between party loyalty in the States and in Europe? | Actually, party loyalty of late is shaky - meaning it's actually decreasing |
| Are political parties in the states centralized or decentralized?Why? | Because of the system of federalism we have in the states, political authority is decentralized. Thus, political parties are decentralized |
| What did the founding fathers think of political parties? Did they like them or not? How did they describe parties | The founders disliked parties and described them as factions motivated by self-interest and ambition. |
| Did George Washington like or dislike political parties? | He disapproved of parties. He condmned them in his Farewell Address |
| Who made up America's first organized political party and what did they call themselves | Followers if Jeffersons ideas made up the first organized political party and they called themselves the Republicans |
| What political party was formed under the beliefs of Hamilton? | The Federalist Party |
| When did the second party system emerge and who was running for President at the time? | The second party system emerged around 1824 and Jackson was running for president at the time |
| Describe some characterisitics of mugwumps or the progressives ( what were they opposed to? what were there thoughts on immigration or party machinery?) | Mugwumps were opposed to heavy emphasis on patronage, disliked party machinery, fearful of heavy influx of immigrants. |
| When does electoral realignment occur? | Electoral realignment occurs when a new issue of utmost importance to the voters cut across existing party divisions and replaces old issues that were formly the basis of party identification |
| What is someone doing when the vote a "split ticket" | When a person votes a split ticket, they are basicallt nominating one candidate for office and another candidate of a different party for another office (i.e. vote a republican candidate for executive office and vote a democratic candidate into congress) |
| Give an example of split ticket voting that occured in the 1988 presidential election | In 1988, more than half of all House Demoncrats were put into office by people who voted for Republican George Bush for president |
| What is a party-column ballot? | A ballot in which a voter chooses candidates all from the same party |
| What is an office-bloc ballot? | A ballot in which a voter selects candidates by office, not by their party |
| What is a common result of split-ticket voting | A divided government (pretty obvious...) |
| What three levels are political parties often split into? | Political parties exist at the national, state, and local levels |
| How do political parties at the national level boss around political parties at the state or local levels? | They don't. At each level, a seperate and independet party exists. They can do what they want and are free from higher level control |
| For the Democratic and Republican parties, where can one find the ultimate authority? | In both parties, ultimate authority is foun in the National Convention that meets every 4 years to nominate a presidential candidate |
| Who handles the day-to-day work of a party? | The day-to-day work of a party is handled by a paid National Chairman |
| By law, how much money can a national party spend directly on its presidential candidate | $12 million dollars |
| Who selects the time and place of a national convention? What else does the group do concerning attendance. | The national commitee does. It also issues a "call" that decides how many delegates attend from each state. |
| How have parties at the grassroot level changed? | Parties at the grassroot level have withered away |
| What is a political machine? | A party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives- i.e. money or political jobs |
| What is another characteristic of a political mahcine. Talk about leadership here. | A political machine is also characterized by high degree of leadership over subordinates or members |
| What did political machines do to gain immigrant support? | The political machines provided immigrants with jobs in return for their support at the polls |
| List some methods used to stop the abuses of political machines | For one thing, stricter voter registration reduced fraud. Another method used was the usage of civil service reforms to limit patronage jobs ( or jobs given as gifts from the machines) |
| Which law made it illegal for civil service employees to participate in political managements of campaigns? | The Hatch Act passed in 1939 |
| What are the differences between a political machine and ideological parties | Where ideological parties concentrate on winning, ideological parties look more towards principle and moral. Also, where the machine is regimented and has tight leadership, the ideological party is more factionalized |
| Why do people join solidary groups? | FOR FUN! YATTA! No really, when people join solidary groups, it's for the fun of it. The advantage is that there's no corruption. The disadvantage is that they don't work seriously. |
| What type of political party system does the U.S. have? What about European conutries? | The U.S. has a two-party system while Europe has a multiparty system |
| Describe one-issue parties and list various examples. | One issue parties deal with...hmm... ONE ISSUE. Some examples include the free-soil party which dealt with the issue of slavery, or the "Know-nothing" party that opposed slavery and Catholics |
| How do factional parties arise? | Factional parties arise from a split in a major party. A good example would be the Bull Moose party that split off of the Republican party to follow Roosevelt |
| What is the main difference between Democratics and Republicans ( and don't say one has a donkey the other has an elephant...I know I would've) | Republicans tend to be more conservative and and Democrats tend to be more liberal |
| Describe the average voter's opinion on certain issues in comparison with those of Republicans and Democrats | The average voter is normally located in the middle of the political spectrum, while Democrats and Republicans contrast sharply in their opinion and are located on the far ends of the spectrum. |
| What political party is Mr. Siftar associated with? | HA! I'm not telling you...not my life. |
