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Political Parties and the Electoral Process

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1. Identify three to four (3-4) ideological differences between America’s two (2) major political parties.
Political ideology is known to be a certain set of ethical ideals, principles, myths, doctrines, or symbols of a social movement, institution, class, etc that explains how society should work and offers their political and cultural blueprint for a certain order. In America, we have various parties including two major political parties known as Democrat and Republican. Both parties both agree and have and ideas on how to run the country and what’s acceptable and not acceptable. Like any other party, both Democrats and Republicans may have some similar views but also have different views or beliefs that separate them.
• One ideological difference between the Democrat and Republican parties is their view on personal security. The Democrat party believe that governments should not only secure the U.S. borders but to also advance on personal security. This belief has been translated into policies that extend health care access to as many citizens as possible, raising the minimum wage and expanding unemployment insurance as a result. Republicans on the other hand, vigorously opposes this use of government, insisting that we should not be compelled to our brothers’ keeper. It is known that of the 13 states that have refused the offer of the federal government to pay 100 percent of the costs to expand health care coverage, 12 of them are Republican controlled. Republicans see this step as a way to restrict liberty by asserting that government-created health exchanges interfere with the right of insurance companies to manage their own affairs.

• A second ideological difference between the two parties is personal liberty. Republicans believe in a big government when it deals with personal liberty. A former Republican Senator and Presidential candidate Rick Santorum stated, “The idea is that the state doesn’t have rights to limit individuals’ wants and passions. I disagree with that. I think we absolutely have rights because there are consequences to letting people live out whatever wants or passions they desire.” One example of personal liberty is gay rights. Democrats are more liberal and all 9 Democrat controlled states extends the freedom of gay couples to marry. Republicans on the other hand are more conservative and their views stem from Christian beliefs that results in them refusing to recognize the rights of gay people to get married.

• A third ideological difference between the two political parties is gun control. Gun control is an issue that affects both liberty and security. Republicans believe in the ability to own unlimited numbers of guns and the right to carry them whenever one wants with a minimum of government oversight, which allows the owner of the gun to protect themselves from physical harm. Democrats have the opposite view on gun control. Democrats believe that widespread gun ownership can significantly contribute to physical violence inside and outside the gun owner’s household, which can result in unrestrained liberty (Morris, 2013).
2. Analyze key reasons why third parties have never been successful at the presidential level.
For one thing, third parties are very influential to the two major political parties because of their support, ideas and beliefs. Third parties are smaller than to two parties and one reason why they never make it to the president level is because there have historically been only two major parties in the U.S. There are numerous third parties that function for different things, and because of their function, third parties support one major party or the other by funding it and giving key political ideas and tactics on how to run the country. Sadly third parties are insignificant to stand on its own feet in the governmental system and therefore, their ideas can be taken from either political party and third parties can fade out of existence. Another reason why third parties don’t make it to the presidential level is because of the electoral system which is a winner-take-all system because there is no reward for second place. With two major political parties in stow, third parties don’t stand a chance (This Nation, 2014).
3. Determine the role of the campaign process in maintaining the two-party system. Use examples to support your response. Political campaigns are largely run by the personal followers of the candidate. In political campaigns, the candidate creates a staff and an organization to work directly for him or her. The role of the campaign process in maintaining the two-party system is use of the Electoral Process. In order to maintain a two-party system, campaigns must decide what two candidates can fun, when elections are held, where to run, who can vote and more importantly who wins. The campaign process has two candidates represent both major political parties, the places where elections are held and the amount of voters to influence. Voting is one of the most important factors in maintaining the two-party system because the more influence the parties have on voters, the more votes there is and the chances of winning the election increases (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2011) (Diiulio, Bose, & Wilson, 2013).

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