American Political System: Difference between revisions

Note that distinction: DC is ''in'' the United States, but not ''of'' them.<ref>This is to prevent it from being too heavily affected by any one state's petty local politics. Philadelphia was the original capital until the Pennsylvania state legislature effectively [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Mutiny_of_1783 holding Congress hostage in 1783 convinced everyone else this was a bad idea.] Lots of [[Hilarity Ensues]] from that fact, including the oddity that the citizens of DC - despite paying taxes - have no voting representation in the Legislative Branch (merely a non-voting representative), and until 1961 couldn't vote in Presidential elections. This from the country that revolted under the battle cry, "No taxation without representation!" The city's residents are disgruntled about it enough that the official DC automobile license plate reads "Taxation Without Representation".</ref>

This can lead to a practice called "gerrymandering" where the party in charge draws up [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IL04_109.gif ridiculously-shaped districts] so as to secure as many safe districts for themselves as possible, while splitting up the other party's strongholds across multiple districts. Gerrymandering is legal in most states. Both parties squawk about reform, but neither is willing to be the first one to give up its precious ''safe seats''. The name, incidentally, goes right back to the beginnings of the Republic, first appearing around 1812 and taking its name from Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry. The practice might have started even earlier.

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(United_States) Democratic Party]''' is traditionally viewed as being center-left, although in most Western countries, they would be considered centrist or tepidly social-democratic. Somewhat socially liberal and fiscally left-wing (although they have a small fiscally conservative contingent). Strong in urban areas, the Northeast, and the West Coast, and among minorities, youth, and poor-to-working class voters. They currently hold the [[Barack Obama|Presidency]] and the Senate.

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States) Republican Party]''', or the GOP (Grand Old Party, despite being younger than the Democrats), is the center-right party in American politics. Unified by fiscal conservatism, and a lot (but not all) of them are social conservatives. Strong in rural areas and the South, and among evangelical Protestants and middle class-to-affluent voters. They currently hold the House of Representatives.

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Party_(United_States) Constitution Party]''' is a "paleoconservative" party, which means that, while they have very right-wing views on taxes, spending and social/cultural issues<ref>They oppose immigration, welfare and the income tax, support gun rights, states' rights and anti-federalism, and take a generally fundamentalist Christian stance on issues like homosexuality, abortion, gambling and pornography. Their anti-abortion position is a big enough issue that debates over whether to allow for abortions in the event of rape, incest and the health of the mother created a schism that saw several state affiliates break away.</ref> and an explicit rooting of their beliefs in Christianity, they also break from modern mainstream conservatism by opposing free trade in favor of a protectionist/mercantilist trade policy, as well as supporting a foreign policy of noninterventionism and a reduced role in world affairs, including repeal of the Patriot Act and withdrawal from the [[United Nations|UN]], the World Bank and the IMF.

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_(United_States) Libertarian Party]''' is pretty much [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin]]: it aims to be the leading party for libertarianism (though some libertarians do not agree with some of the LP's stances). It is the third largest political party according to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_%28United_States%29#cite_note-1 these sources] as of 2011. Libertarians tend to favor maximum individual liberty (pro-gun rights, pro-gay rights, pro-drug legalization, pro-legal abortion, anti-Patriot Act, anti-censorship), maximum economic liberty (loose environmental and labor laws, pro-free trade, anti-tax, anti-bailout), and very limited government involvement in social welfare. Libertarians do not identify themselves as "left" or "right" in the traditional sense -- most would argue for a bi-axial system of political identification, with "conservative" and "liberal" on the economic axis and "libertarian" and "authoritarian" on the social axis.

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Party_(United_States) Green Party]''' is probably the most famous third party in the country after the Libertarians, mainly thanks to the high-profile Presidential run of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in 2000. By any measure, they are quite leftist, supporting fair trade, pacifism, an end to the War on Drugs, local government, internationalism, very liberal views on civil liberties and social issues, opposition to the Patriot Act, and a strong welfare state -- in other words, not too far from other Green Parties worldwide and European-style social democrats. Their main focus, however, is environmentalism, as their name suggests. Supporters are often stereotyped as tree-hugging hippies and socialists. If you see a character in fiction who supports the Green Party, then he or she is probably a [[New Age Retro Hippie]] or a [[Granola Girl]].

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Movement Tea Party]''', despite its name, is not a political party ''per se'', but rather, is a right-wing populist movement centered on the Republican Party. It is primarily composed of conservative, Christian, upper-middle-class citizens, and it had its genesis in early 2009, when CNBC correspondent Rick Santelli went on [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp-Jw-5Kx8k a rant] on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange attacking [[Barack Obama]]'s bailout of homeowners facing foreclosure. Some would argue it started with [[Ron Paul]]'s Presidential campaign in 2007-08, but although he has a faction in the modern Tea Party, it appears that the majority are closer to mainline conservative Republican ideology than the anti-interventionist, staunch libertarian Paul. Their name is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, one of many protests by colonial Americans against the Tea Act passed by the British Parliament in 1773.<br /><br />Their initial goals were largely libertarian and financial in nature, including smaller government, lower taxes, states' rights, and opposition to the bailouts and growing government spending (especially deficit spending), but the specific goals of its constituent groups greatly broadened the movement's focus; in particular, illegal immigration, family values and opposition to [[Global Warming|climate change]] legislation have been taken up as additional planks by many local and regional groups. A few politicians, such as [[Sarah Palin]], Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann, frequently speak at Tea Party events and are considered by outsiders as the public face of the group, but various groups remain and have no unified official leader. [[We ARE Struggling Together|This has been problematic]], though less than usual in such cases. Since the Tea Party and the issues it champions are hot-button subjects within the United States, please remember the [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment]] when discussing them.

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Masonic_Party Anti-Masonic Party]''', [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|as its name suggests]], was formed in 1828 in opposition to what they felt was [[Conspiracy Theorist|the corrupting influence of]] [[Ancient Conspiracy|Freemasonry]], although it would eventually pursue a more general opposition to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonian_democracy Jacksonian democracy]. It introduced such political traditions as party platforms and nominating conventions, as well as being the [[Trope Maker]] for single-issue political parties. At their height in 1832, they managed to win 7.78% of the popular vote, with their greatest strength in Vermont (who gave them their only electoral college victory) and in New York. The movement would fizzle out and be absorbed into the growing Whig party by 1838 (Freemasonry no longer being that hot of an issue), although not before running future President [[William Henry Harrison]] in the 1836 election.

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig_Party_%28United_States%29 Whig Party]''' were not a third party, but rather the primary opposition party to Andrew Jackson's Democratic Party from the early 1830s to the late 1850s. (Listed here for historical interest.) To vastly oversimplify: on the issue of who should have greater power, the President or the States, the Democrats favored the former while the Whigs favored the latter. Managed to win the presidency twice, both times by men who would later die in office: [[William Henry Harrison]] in 1840 (succeeded by vice president [[John Tyler]]), and then [[Zachary Taylor]] in 1848 (succeeded by vice president [[Millard Fillmore]]). As slavery became a bigger issue in the late 1850s, most Whigs in the North (such as [[Abraham Lincoln]], who had been a Whig congressman from Illinois from 1847-1849) joined the then-fledgling Republican Party, and those in the South gravitated either to the American Party (see below) or the Constitutional Union party.

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Nothing Know Nothings]''' were a political party that existed under the names '''Native American Party''' (nothing to do with actual Native Americans) from 1845 to 1855, and the '''American Party''' from then until 1860. The Know Nothings were a nativist movement that was strongly opposed to immigration (particularly from Ireland and Germany), which they blamed for the crime in the cities, and Catholicism, which they felt was a foreign plot to subvert and overthrow American democracy. The name "Know Nothing" comes from the secret groups that preceded the party, whose members were told to say "I know nothing" if they were confronted about their involvement. They enjoyed massive success in the mid-1850s thanks to the collapse of the Whig Party and the two-party system, but they soon splintered and fell apart over the issue of slavery. The term "Know Nothing" would go on to be used as a derogatory term for a nativist for decades to come.

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_Party Prohibition Party]''' was founded in 1869 to call for the restriction and prohibition of alcoholic substances. It had its greatest success in 1919, when national alcohol prohibition was enacted, causing it to change its message to calling for stricter enforcement of the ban. However, the growing distaste for prohibition cost them dearly, and the repeal of prohibition in 1933 set the party on a long decline. The party still exists, but in the last election, it only earned 643 votes -- a far cry from the days when they could win over a quarter of a million votes. By sheer twist of fate, they were responsible for the election of the first female mayor in American history, and did so completely by accident. For fun, take a look on their [[The Other Wiki|Wikipedia]] page and see where they held their conventions. Going down the list, it's kind of sad.

* There have been various groups that have been known as the '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populist_Party_(United_States) Populist Party]''' over the decades, but the most famous one is the '''People's Party''', which existed from 1884 to 1908. The Populists were an agrarian movement born out of anger at falling crop prices and rising railroad rates, and called for economic action against the banks, the railroads and the merchants of the cities. The main plank in their platform was bringing an end to the gold standard and replacing it with the free coinage of silver currency, an issue that resonated among struggling farmers (rapid inflation would allow credit to flow more freely in rural areas and make it much easier to pay off debt). The Populists had their greatest success in 1892, when they won over a million votes and four western states. However, the 1896 campaign saw the Democrats co-opting the Populists' support of free silver, which was a stake through the heart for the movement. While the party withered into irrelevance after that, much of their platform, which included an eight-hour work week, civil service reforms, a graduated income tax, and direct election of Senators, would be co-opted by the progressive movement in the early 20th century.

* There have been three '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Party#North_America Progressive Parties]''', of which the most-well known is the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Party_(United_States,_1912) 1912 edition], also known as the '''Bull Moose Party''', a vehicle for former President [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s 1912 Presidential run.<ref>The other two were also candidate-driven; the 1924 edition was an electoral vehicle for Wisconsin Governor Robert M. La Follette, and continued for some time afterwards, primarily in Wisconsin and the Great Plains. The 1948 edition, meanwhile, was created by Henry Wallace as a left-wing challenge to Democratic President [[Harry Truman]].</ref> The Progressive Party was the culmination of the progressive movement, which called for broad-reaching social reforms for America's working classes, including a pension system, income taxes, women's suffrage, farm relief, the right of labor to organize, and expanded access to health care. Despite its short life, the Progressive Party is notable for being the only third party to beat one of the major parties in an election.

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_America Socialist Party]''' existed from 1901 until 1972, and enjoyed its greatest success in the early 20th century, proving that, no, socialism was ''not'' always a four-letter word in the US. In the elections of 1912 and 1920, the Socialists won over 900,000 votes with their candidate Eugene V. Debs (keeping in mind that, in the latter case, he was ''[[Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|in prison]]''). They had particular success in local government, electing several mayors; [[Milwaukee]] in particular elected three Socialist mayors over the course of fifty years, the last one only leaving office in 1960. They endorsed Robert La Follette in 1924 and continued to build support in the 1920s, but their support was undercut by [[Franklin D Roosevelt|FDR's]] New Deal during [[The Great Depression]]. After [[World War II|the war]], [[Red Scare|anti-Communist fears]] caused the Socialist Party to fade away, and they finally broke into three parties in 1972 over the issue of [[The Vietnam War]].

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_USA Communist Party USA]''' was a Stalinist political party that was influential from the 1920s through the 1940s. It supported the Soviet Union and sought to bring its economic system to the United States, and sought to unite American leftists during [[The Great Depression]]. It was crushed by the second [[Red Scare]] in [[The Fifties]], and it was left out of the "New Left" of [[The Sixties]] due to its uncritical support of Leonid Brezhnev and Soviet militarism, which alienated liberals. It remains active to this day as a more democratic socialist third party (as opposed to its past militancy), but it has failed to regain its past influence.

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixiecrat States' Rights Democratic Party]''', or simply the '''Dixiecrats''', were a faction that broke off from the Democratic Party in 1948 in protest of the Democrats' support for [[Civil Rights Movement]]. The Dixiecrats, running on a segregationist platform, nominated Senator Strom Thurmond and managed to win over 1.1 million votes, 39 electoral votes and [[Deep South|four Southern states]]. The Dixiecrats faded away as a party after 1948, but the split between Northern and Southern Democrats continued to linger, leading to...

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Independent_Party American Independent Party]''', another segregationist splinter from the Democrats, this time from 1968 and led by Alabama Governor George Wallace. The American Independents won 13.5% of the popular vote, 46 electoral votes and five Southern states. The success of Wallace's candidacy, combined with [[Richard Nixon]]'s "Southern strategy," marked the end of the once-Democratic "Solid South," which felt that the Democrats had betrayed the principles of white supremacy. While the AIP still exists, it does so solely as the California affiliate of the Constitution Party.

* The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Party_(United_States) Reform Party]''' was a populist third party established in the wake of Texas billionaire Ross Perot's 1992 independent Presidential run, which won 19% of the popular vote and became the first Presidential campaign since 1912 that was seen as having been capable of winning an election. The Reform Party had its greatest success in 1998 when [[Jesse Ventura]] was elected governor of Minnesota, but it soon fell prey to infighting between three groups: the "old guard" Perot faction, the libertarian Ventura faction, and a Christian conservative wing led by former Republican candidate and pundit Pat Buchanan. The party collapsed in the wake of the 2000 election, where its nomination was won by Buchanan, and while there is still a national organization, the party no longer meaningfully exists as a national entity.

No third party candidate has ever been elected president. Even when the Republican Party won its first presidential election with Abraham Lincoln in 1860, it was already one of the top two parties going into the election year. However, there have been several third party candidacies with a sizable impact on the two-party race -- which is to say, backlash on the third-party voters' second choice. This is known as the "spoiler" effect, most recently observed when Ross Perot ran as an independent candidate in 1992, received 19% of the popular vote and split conservatives, and in 2000, where Green Party candidate Ralph Nader's showing of 2% was sufficient to tip the scales in [[George W Bush]]'s favor in [[Florida]].

America uses a first-past-the-post voting system -- in any election, one vote is cast and the candidate/option with the most votes is the winner, even if a majority did not vote for it. Quick example: In an election between A, B, and C, A gets 35%, B gets 45%, and C gets 20%. B wins, even though 55% of the electorate voted against it. If it seems to you that the A and C supporters should have teamed up and pooled their votes rather than splitting them, congratulations -- you've just discovered why America has only two major political parties. Using political science, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger%27s_law it can be shown] that plurality elections tend to lead to two-party systems, which is exactly what happened in America. This has led to calls for the implementation of alternative voting systems, such as the single transferable vote or instant-runoff voting, in order to break the monopoly of the two major parties, as well as the abolition of the Electoral College system.

In the 2011-2012 session, the Republicans hold the majority in the House of Representatives, while the Democrats hold the Senate majority. As the executive and legislative branches are distinct in the US government, it is possible for one or both houses of Congress to be controlled by the opposite party than the president, and indeed this is more often than not the case -- Democrat [[Bill Clinton]] had a Republican congress for six years of his presidency, and [[George W Bush]] worked with a Democratic Congress for the final two years of his term. While such differences can often lead to a political stalemate -- a budgetary standoff between Clinton and Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich lead to a federal government shutdown in 1995 -- more often than not, compromise rules the day. Republican use of the filibuster rule during Barack Obama's term has served to give the minority party an effective veto, earned them the nickname "Party Of No" (due to an utter unwillingness to compromise) and revived serious discussion about doing away with the filibuster entirely, or at least seriously weakening it. The exact same debate, of course, happened with the parties reversed during the [[George W Bush]] administration, when (until 2006) the Democrats were in the minority. And now you have an idea of why serious moves to eliminate the filibuster never go through -- the party in power may be annoyed by it, but they know that, when they become the minority on Capitol Hill, not having the filibuster means that they won't be able to make their dissent mean anything.