LEGISLATIVE BRANCH Political Parties CIVICS Mr Hensley SRMHS

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH Political Parties CIVICS Mr. Hensley SRMHS

Political Parties and Interest Groups • Interest groups are focused on influencing policy, no matter who is in charge (NRA) • Political parties want to make sure their people are the ones in charge • Political parties try to control the government • Interest groups try to control gov’t policy

Party Goals • Where there are Congressional districts, a state or a major city – you will find party offices • Parties recruit candidates for office; raise money for their candidates; get their members to vote in elections and promote the interests of their party • New development: the PAC is a blend between party and interest group

How Much Does It Cost to Run for President?

Finding Good Candidates • Parties need lots of qualified candidates • Must meet any Constitutional requirements for the office • Common sense: a clean record and a record of accomplishments • Must be able to raise money: six figures for the House, seven figures for the Senate

Where Do They Come From?

Parties Handle Nominations • Constitutional requirements must be met but otherwise, the parties themselves set the rules for picking their candidates • Contested positions are settled in a primary election – usually, only members of that party can vote in a primary

The First Party System: 1789 to 1815 • Federalists from large cities want a strong federal government and favor a loose interpretation of the Constitution • Democratic-Republicans want the states to have power and take a strict view towards the Constitution

Age of Jackson • Federalists fade away after 1815 – why? • Voting restrictions are removed in the 1820’s – Era of the Common Man • Jackson rebrands as the Democratic Party • Whigs organize themselves as opponents to Jackson

New Parties in the 1850’s • Whigs to oppose Jackson and the Democrats • “Know-Nothings” (The American Party) to oppose immigrants and Catholics • Republicans to oppose slavery – and it’s complicated: opposed to slavery but not in favor of blacks living in equality with whites

Second Party System • After the Civil War and Reconstruction, Republicans dominate in the North; Democrats dominate in the South • New groups emerge: the Populists are farmers and workers, Progressives want government control over industry

The Third Party System • Democrats pull in Populists and Progressives • Great Depression intensifies this pattern • By 1940: poor whites, blacks, workers and the educated elite are Democrats (liberal) • Middle and upper class whites are Republicans (conservative)

East/West and North/South • Southern Democrats are conservative – they oppose civil rights initiatives of liberal Northern Democrats • Western Republicans are conservative, middle class and anti-government – Eastern Republicans are liberal. Upper-class and pro government

White Backlash • In the 1960’s, racist Southern Democrats split from the party over civil rights • Working-class whites left as well, over perceived “special treatment” given to minorities • More whites leave the Democrats because of school desegregation

Last Fifty Years • Southern Democrats became Republicans (“Southern Strategy”) • Eastern, liberal Republicans became conservative – triumph of the West (Reagan) • Democrats are now the party of the educated (liberal) and minorities • Changing again?