Chapter 10, section 1 A Two-Party System

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lt-f3QQ7-A

I. Political Parties Political Party – a group of citizens with similar views on issues who work to put their ideas into effective gov’t action Nominate (select) candidates (people who run for office) for political office DEMOCRAT REPUBLICAN http://blog.donkeyrant.com/ThemeFiles/24805-23581/images/donkey-democrat-logo.jpg http://election-coverage.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/republican_logo.jpg

Candidates Barack Obama John McCain DEMOCRAT REPUBLICAN http://www.diabetic-diet-secrets.com/images/stories/john-mccain.jpg http://whoisbarackobama.name/who-is-barack-obama.jpg

Campaigning JibJab http://www.peteyandpetunia.com/VoteHere/VoteHere.htm

A. The Role of Political Parties Convince voters to elect candidates who support the party’s ideas “Liberal” – Left wing – Democrats “Conservative” – Right wing – Republicans Political Spectrum – range of differences in such political views between parties

The Political Spectrum http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.exponentialimprovement.com/cms/uploads/usprimaries031002crop.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.exponentialimprovement.com/cms/politicalspectrum.shtml&h=394&w=481&sz=11&hl=en&start=15&usg=__DoS1pFSyT-STN6p_xkj8971Aef4=&tbnid=IIQDlwV4xizhRM:&tbnh=106&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3DPolitical%2BSpectrum%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den

II. The Two-Party System Two-Party System – The U.S. has two main political parties Democrats – greater role for the federal gov’t in providing social programs Republicans – reduce the power of the federal gov’t in operating social programs

A. Advantages of the Two-Party System Most of the time, both parties have equal strength Both offer very moderate plans and programs to get the most voters possible Neither party wants to be too extreme

Two-Party Systems U.S.A. Great Britain http://www.timespast.org.uk/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/american-flag.jpg Great Britain http://www.british-flag.org/british-flag-640.jpg

B. Multiparty Systems Multi-Party System – more than two strong political parties Difficult to gain a majority Coalition – two or more parties compromise or work together to achieve a majority Coalitions are very unstable – break apart losing the majority

Multi-Party Systems ISRAEL CANADA 20+ Parties 3 Parties http://www.world-flags-symbols.com/_img_nations3/israel_flag.png http://www.world-flags-symbols.com/_img_nations1/canadaflag.png

C. One-Party Government One-Party System – a single political party controls the gov’t The law usually forbids the formation of all other political parties Sometimes called dictatorships or totalitarian gov’ts

One-Party System China Communist Party http://world-flags-symbols.com/_img_nations2/chinaflag.png

III. Third Parties Third Parties – political parties other than the Democratic and Republican Important Third Parties: Progressive – Took votes away from Taft, allowing Wilson to win the presidency (spoiler role) Ross Perot – Possibly cost George H.W. Bush the election (spoiler role) Populist Party – helped institute an 8-hr. workday and direct election of senators (17th Amendment)