UNIT 5 LESSON 1 Political Parties

Warm-up 1. Would you rather have high taxes and many services provided by the government, or low taxes and few services provided by the government? 2. Which political party do you think favors each of those policies?

Objective After this lesson, you should be able to describe the purpose of political parties.

The Political Spectrum Political Party: An organization that seeks to elect government officials and promote certain ideas and policies. Policy: A plan or course of action followed by political leaders and/or the government.

What does this mean: Differences Between the Parties Conservative: A person who tends to favor traditional ideas and values. Liberal: A person who tends to favor modern ideas and promotes social reforms. Republicans are considered the conservative American political party Democrats are considered the liberal American political party

Other Parties Any political party other than the two major parties is called a third party. These are created when citizens don’t feel represented by one of the major parties. Third parties have a difficult time winning national elections. Because they are not a Democrat or Republican, they do not receive as much media coverage or campaign donations and are often not included in debates. They also don’t have the funding provided to candidates by the major parties.

1. Recruit and nominate candidates: Find people to run for positions; run the party’s primary elections; support candidates from their party with publicity and money

2. Educate the public: Use websites, pamphlets, newsletters, speeches, and tv to spread information; help people who are not informed on all of the issues to make a decision based on the party’s position; inform the public of their policy positions

3. Operating the Government: Congress and state legislatures are organized based on party affiliation; try to make sure members’ votes follow the party’s position

4. Provide Opposition to the Party in Office: Particularly the party that DOES NOT control Congress or the White House; point out problems with the party in power to improve their chances in the next election

5. Reduce Conflict: Encourages compromise and working together; adopt moderate policies with mass appeal; candidates must appeal to a wide variety of voters in order to get enough votes to win an election

Multiple Choice Practice 1.What is a reason people join third parties? a.Third-party candidates usually win elections. b.Third parties always raise a large sum of money. c.The Democratic and Republican party dues are too expensive. d.The Democratic and Republican parties do not represent their views.

Multiple Choice Practice 2. Which of these activities is most likely performed by political parties? a.holding general elections b.Raising campaign money c.designing voting precincts d.counting absentee ballots