1. Final Exam Section 3 Part 1: Political Parties and Running for Office

2. Political Parties
Political Parties have similar views on issues that are important to America.
Political Parties use platforms to show the voters where the party stands on certain issues, like taxation and the military.
The US has a Two Party System: Democrats and Republicans. These parties control the elections and have the most participation from voters.

3. The Democratic Party
Basic belief is that the government should help solve problems in the society. This is done through raising taxes to pay for important social programs such as old age security, policing and the military. The idea here is that by creating more government programs, people will have more opportunities to take care of themselves. Disadvantage: Some voters feel that raising taxes takes more money out of their pockets and puts more control over their lives by the government. These people feel that they should be able to decide where their money goes, not the government.

4. The Republican Party
Basic belief is that government should have less of a roll in peoples lives. The government, according to this party, should be for essential services that people need and nothing more. This party believes in less taxation and the theory that less taxes means more money in peoples pockets. Disadvantage: People who are wealthy will do well, but those who are less well off, will have less options to help them when life gets tough. Also, with less government services, people end up paying more out of their pockets because privatized services are often more expensive than public ones.

5. Third Parties
There are other parties in the United States than just the main two. However, they do not have much public support and have even less access to get on the ballot during elections than the two major parties. Similarly, since many people feel that these parties will never win, they have a hard time deciding to put their votes on a candidate that won’t win. The result is a constant back and forth of the main parties. Three main parties include the Libertarian Party, the Communist Party and the Socialist Party.

6. The Libertarian, Communist and Socialist Parties
Libertarian Party: Believes that government should be very small and exist only to protect the rights of individuals and private property.
The Communist Party: Believes in a large government where everything is owned and controlled by the government and where there is no private property.
The Socialist Party: Believes strongly in democracy and believes that the government should be more democratic than it is now and where ordinary people have more of a say over how government is run. The idea with this party is that more government involvement in peoples lives makes society safer and healthier for everyone. They believe in equality and private property.
These parties don’t win elections but they do influence how the major parties campaign during elections!!

7. Running for Office and Party Stances on Issues
Parties nominates candidates to run for office who support the parties values on issues. You don’t have to be a member of a political party to run for office.
Parties take stances on issues such as the minimum wage. The Republican Party believes that the minimum wage needs to be left to the individual states. The Democrats believe that it should be regulated by the national level and increased to a living wage. Another issue is healthcare. The Republican Party believes in repealing the Affordable Healthcare Act and have more private care. However, the Democratic Party believes in more options for all Americans who need to be able to access care at a cost they can actually afford.