Political Science and Political Parties There is a reason religion and politics are typically off-limits topics at dinner parties and the like, because some people stand behind their political views and party affiliations as strongly as if it were their religion and when they come against opposing views, it can make for an awkward or even explosive situation.
Although the Framers of the Constitution did not necessarily anticipate the forming of political parties, they have become an integral part of our government today. The parties are broadly defined as organized groups that attempt to influence the government by electing their members to important government offices (Ginsberg 329), but they serve other purposes which include seeking out potential candidates, encouraging citizens to vote, streamlining complicated legislature and debates for the public (and elected officials) and generally trying to serve as a collective voice of the people or conduit between the everyday individual and the government, a sort of middle man between the government and citizens/interest groups.
Political Science and Political Parties Essay Paper
Political parties help the government respond to the needs and desires of its citizens (Ginsberg 327). Parties serve the general public, special interest groups and themselves as they compete to gain political power and studies have shown (unsurprisingly) that they tend to cater towards the wealthy and middle-class as opposed to the underprivileged. Nonetheless, they play a critical role in government and democracy because they educate the public about the current issues and work to develop laws and other legislature that benefit their constituents.
Although there have been two major parties dominating much of history since the 1780ís Democrat and Republican, there are also third parties. Individuals tend to view voting for third party candidates as wasting their votes since the larger two parties control the majority and generally win on election day; third parties still play an important role because they can often bring new items of social or economic significance to the attention of the larger parties which may not have otherwise received their attention.
Political Science and Political Parties Essay Paper
Each party has its own fundamental causes they support and these have shifted over time. Currently, it can be said that the Democratic party is more liberal supporting more funding for social services, environmental reform, cutting military spending and taxing the wealthy whereas the Republican party focuses on increasing military spending, strict immigration laws, cutting social programs and supporting the wealthy and businesses with tax breaks. Parties seek to appeal to their voters through shared stances on these and other items and uses this support to win elections, increase their control and subsequently use this control to pass laws that further their causes. Supposedly, they should be polling the public to find out what they want/need and work to institute laws and policies that serve the general public but in today’s government, it feels like the people have less of a say and the politicians are the ones deciding what is best for everyone whether the citizens agree or not. The dominating parties today are often at opposite ends of the spectrum on current issues, and, these strong competing priorities can cause a deadlock (party polarization) with ìmembers of each party unified around their partyís positions with little crossoverî (Ginsberg 357), like in 2013 and earlier this year which caused the government funding to run out and shut down until a compromise could be reached…
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