9. POLITICAL ISSUES SPECTRUM Extremely Liberal Liberal Moderate Conservative Extremely Conservative 20 0 40 60 80 100
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Hinweis der Redaktion
So for this unit, we can use some of what we learned in the previous unit to understand where political parties came from. Does anyone know of any political groups that were forming at the end of the 1700s? Some of your Facebook people were involved in these divisions. Does anyone know what they were fighting over or how they thought differently from each other? So at first there were Anti-Federalists and Federalists, and then with Thomas Jefferson the Anti-Federalists became the Democratic-Republicans.
The Federalist Party went away after a few years, but Jefferson’s party continued. His party became known simply as the Democratic Party in the 1820s. Does anyone recognize this picture? This man is thought to be the first Democrat elected President. There was another party for a while known as the Whigs, but they eventually disappeared, and the Republican Party emerged in the 1850s. Since the 1850s, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party have been the two major political parties. BUT, their views and their stances on issues have changed over time, so don’t think that Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, held beliefs exactly like George W. Bush. They faced very different situations.
So political parties have been around for a very long time, they technically could be viewed as an American tradition. So if they’ve been important enough to stick around for 200 years, what do they actually do that makes them worth having? For one, they allow people with similar ideas to get things done. Does anybody have any ideas based on what they already know about political parties? They recruit and nominate candidates- they have national conventions every year where they formally nominate candidates for President. They educate the electorate about campaign issues- you can go to the Republican website and read a ton about what their stances are on everything. They help candidates win elections- members of a political party will support one another. It is common for the President to attend a rally for a fellow Democrat. Finally, they help monitor actions of officeholders. Whenever there is a scandal or instance of corruption, the opposite part is all over the news reporting what happened.
So all parties do some of the same things and have some of the same characteristics. They all want to win elections. They want to win elections so that they can influence public policies. They don’t just have liberal or conservative views, they sometimes change ends of the spectrum on certain issues. And because they want to win the most votes, they appeal to the political center where most of the voters are.
So the differences in opinions on issues between parties are numerous. They are stated in the party platform.