Party Elections Essays

Party Elections Essays Party Elections Essay Party Elections Essay Party Elections BY Mikebd28 Party Driven Elections Political parties are the driving force behind elections in the United States. Since the Reconstruction, no third-party candidate has even been close in winning the Presidential Race (Schattschneider 186). Also since then, only 163 third-party candidates have been elected to government office without being affiliated to the two major parties( Schattschneider 189). George Washington was the only man to be President as a true independent. Many people may look at this and think that if Washington did this, maybe the system should be changed. But the fact is unless the system is changed, the United States will most likely always be controlled by only two parties. Ever since this country was created it has been governed by two parties. Originating with the Federalist and the Anti-Federalists, advancing to todays Republicans and Democrats (Domino 705). A party has almost always claimed at least a 50 percent majority in Congress. Never has any third party risen to power and stayed there, without bringing another party down from power. The longest leading parties in history are the Republican and Democratic Parties (Domino 707). While the arties stances on issues may have developed, their core beliefs have never changed. Republicans have always been in favor of a decentralized government, while the Democrats have always supported a centralized government. Some examples would be Obamacare for liberals, and tax cuts for the conservatives. But not everyone supports all issues of his or her parties platform. Many prominent leaders ally for the most part with their respective party, but sometimes disagree on a prominent issues. Sometimes a leader claims to hail from one party, but almost entirely disagree with the party on many issues. Ron Paul is a perfect example of a man who does not believe in his partys values. Paul was a presidential nominee, whose values reflect many strong liberal views. But Paul ran as a Republican and got beaten soundly. Mitt Romney is another man who has not always believed in his party values. Romney has changed many of his positions over time to gain conservative votes. Both man serve as examples of what happens if one does not, and what happens when one does follow the party. Paul did not changes his views; therefore, he stood no chance. Romney did, and because of that he was the GOP candidate. The United State is a a two party form our government, purely because of how elections are set up. When the votes are tallied and winners are selected, it is on a winner take all basis (Schattschneider 786). In presidential elections if Republicans win 50 percent of the vote, and the rival democrats win 49 percent, all votes are allocated to the Republicans. This form of government, is one in which majority rules. This alone cripples any form of third party rise to power. Even if third parties have a very strong showing, they cannot possibly ever win. They can only make a difference in who ends up winning. Many times they draw votes away from one of the said to be about 33 percent Republican, 33 percent Democrat, and 33 percent independent. It is not mathematically feasible for a third party to rival the two parties. The reason is because the 33 percent independents are made up of so many different beliefs, ideas, and values; and stemming from that no third party could surpass at most 15 percent of the population (McArdle 1823). New parties face many challenges and for one to rise, another would have to fall. This stems from Independents actually having a stronger voting bias, as opposed to omeone who is a moderate towards a party. Therefore, it is not possible to have a third party if almost every person always leans towards one side or the other. For the rise of a new party to occur, many different things would have to happen. The most important change would be to combine independents along with people from either one or both parties, either crippling one or both parties. If a new party rose to power, it is likely that a second would follow replacing both original powers (Wald 41). This is what has occurred in the past with the fall of the federalists, Whigs, and many more. The main reason for the rise and decline is how the issues evolve and change over time. In the 1800s gay marriage was not a big topic issue at all. Today, it is splitting people apart and is a leading issue for political parties. Currently, there is a division of Republicans called the Tea Party. They are very conservative and are gaining momentum all over the country. They have gotten many candidates elected and are starting to make a big difference in many races. They will most likely settle the issues with Republicans as a whole, but this shows how a small party can grow and gain power. These parties can heavily influence elections, even hough they have no chance at winning. They will attract many independent votes, as well as taking other support from candidates. This is crucial because if it takes enough away from a candidate, it can swing the election in a different direction. For there to be more then two top parties we would need a different form of voting. The country would have to switch to a system like Israel and Germany. They have elections, and each percentage of the vote gets something in return (Schattschneider 184). For example, if the Republicans get 35 percent, the Democrats get 30 percent, the Green Party gets 20 percent, and the U. S. Taxpayers get 10 percent, would allocate votes according to percentage. Because of this system, it elects a party and not necessary the best man for the lob. If Abraham Lincoln ran today as a U. S. Taxpayer, or John F. Kennedy as a Green Party member, neither wold have any chance at winning. Obviously, it is not because the men are not capable to be President. It is merely that they lack the party to back them. When running for President, the candidate would need to have the perfect storm to be elected. One would need the full support of the party, strong financial backing, and the opposing party needs to be lacking popular support. If the opposition is lacking the popular support, it leaves the independent vote open to win (Mera 126). It is almost impossible to win without getting independent votes. Since each party is almost equally split, this voting area is crucial. nonetheless it has an impact. This is focusing more on the future and how they will vote. This is important for the future of the party, rather than one election. Colleges are notorious for being extremely liberal. This makes an age group that is very left leaning. President Obama won the young vote 70-30 percent (Mera 120). All of these aspects add up to decide who will win the election. In 2008, John McCain had no chance of winning the election. At the time, Republican were losing the control of the government. In that year the Democrats took control of the Senate, the House, and the White House (Lioz 21). This expresses that the country felt Republicans were responsible for the current situation in America. When parties are held responsible, as a whole, it does not matter who the candidate is. The chances of the old party winning are very unlikely in a close election. Elections are hard fought and played on a winner take all basis. Because of how they operate, they are very comparable to football games. There normally is a census of who will be victorious. Also, name recognition and talent are always big factors. In 2007 Appalachian State beat the fifth ranked team in the country for one of the biggest upsets of all time. In politics it is very similar, but very different in numerous ways. Name recognition can get a candidate far, but who had heard of Obama before 2007. Four years before Obama was elected President, he was serving in the State Senate of Illinois (Finkel 29). He decided to run for U. S. Senate after a failed bid for the Congressional seat of his district. The man he was running against was very well nown, and Obama was given little chance. He won because his opponent had a major scandal revealed during the campaign. After Obama had been a U. S. Senator for three year, he decided to run for President (Pope 326). His opponent was a war hero, and a popular, long serving Senator. John McCain had everything Obama did not going into the election, except for one major thing. Obama was a Democrat, and McCain was a Republican. President George W. Bush had Just finished his second term as President and held an extremely low popularity rating. The economy is the U. S. was in a recession, and America was at war in multiple countries. If the tide was reversed and the Democrats were the ones leaving the White House, McCain would have won fairly easily. But Obama crushed his more well known, and experienced opponent. In 1992, Ross Perot ran for President as an Independent. He represented a change in America and promised things would be different under him. He generated strong momentum and therefore was considered to be the first third party candidate to have a chance of winning in a very long time. Perot failed to win more then 20 percent of the vote and failed to win a single state or electoral vote. The election outcome was Bill Clinton arrowly defeating President Bush Sr. (Whitehead 16). This goes back to the earlier point that a third party has no chance of winning, but they can decide who will end up winning. If Perot never ran, President Bush likely would have won a second term. Perots views were similar to the Presidents but leaning more to the middle. So voters who would have voted for Bush, voted for Perot, and Clinton claimed the White Abraham Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas many times in different elections. Douglas beat Lincoln every time. In 1858, this all changed when the two men ran against one an other for the Presidency (Develder 17). Douglas had more name recognition and better financing, but this time there was not a party in trouble. Instead, there was a party on the rise. The Republican Party was brand new and attracted many new followers. Lincoln was running against three other men, all whom had more name recognition. Lincolns name was not even on 10 of the 15 southern states ballots. But when all the votes were counted, he won the election in a land slide (Develder 19). All of these examples in history show that it comes down to parties. With the new era of today, new issues are coming to light every day. Thirty-Five ears ago, no laws existed against cybercrimes. Todays world has many complex issues, that still tear the country apart. This is why in the future a new party may rise. If a new party does rise, it is a sure bet they will gain control of the government. America is ruled by momentum and the current day climate. Without being in a party where the common census is favorable, the candidate has no chance to win. This is why many people wait for the right time to run for office. If the candidate runs at the wrong time, the person might not Just lose, it might end all other opportunities at running at all. No one man can win and take complete control over this country. Our government was created for this exact reason. The Founding Fathers were terrified of a king rising to power. They set the government up in the only way they could, they made it so majority always rules. This is why no third party candidate has a chance and why no one party will ever be the sole entity of power in the United State. This country will always change, but it will also continue to thrive in being competitive. Works cited university Law journal (2012): 701-09. 18 NOV. 2012. web. 08 Dec. 2012. Develder, Carla J. Election Law: Careers at the Intersection of Law and politics. Student Lawyer (2012): 14-97. web. 18 NOV. 012. Schattschneider, E. E. Party Government. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1942. 173-204. print. Finkel, Ed. On the Campaign Trail 2012. Student Lawyer (2012): 27-41. Web. 18 Nov. 2012. Lioz, Adam. Democracy at Stake: Political Equality in the Super PAC Era. Human Rights Era (2012): 15-36. web. 18 NOV. 2012. McArdle, Andrea. The Increasingly Fractious Politics of Nonpartisan Judicial Selection: Acco untability Challenges to Merit-Based Reform. Albany Law Review (2012): 1799-2163. web. 18 NOV. 2012. Pope, Daniel. American Radicalism. New York: Blackwell, 2001. 26-331 Print Wald, Kenneth. Religion and Politics in the United States. New York: Lanham,Rowman Littlefield, 2003. 34-59. print. Whitehead, Tom. The anti-politics voters. Daily Telegraph (2012): 1-19. Web. 19 Nov. Mera, Scott. Youth Political Participation: Bridging Activism and Electoral politics. Annual Review of sociology (2012): 119-141 . web. 18 NOV. 2012. Works cited Revised Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Coward-McCann, 1962. Print. Twain, Mark, Ilknur Altun, and M. All. Ayyildiz. Huckle Berry Finn. Istanbul: Kapadokya ELT, 2004. Print. Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor, 1994. Print. Orwell, George. 1984: A Novel. New York, NY: Published by Signet Classic, 1977. Print. Morgenstern, Erin. The Night Circus: A Novel. New York: Doubleday, 2011. Print. Egan, Jennifer. A Visit from the Goon Squad. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print. Erdrich, Louise. The round House. New York, NY: Harper, 2012. Print. Orwell, George. Animal Farm;. New 2003. print. Meyer, Stephenie. The Host: A Novel. New York: Little, Brown, 2008. Print. Paolini, Christopher. Eragon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. Print. Owen, Mark, and Kevin Maurer. No Easy Day: The Autobiography of a Navvy Seal : The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden. Detroit [Mich. : Thorndike, 2012. Print. Bowden, Mark. Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. New York: Little,Bown, 1999. Print. Luttrell, Marcus, and Patrick Robinson. Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10. New York: Little, Brown, 2007. Print. McMurtry, Larry. Lonesome Dove: A Novel. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985. print. IDEA: Elections Thesis: Political parties are the driving factors in our government. l. Introduction A. Ever since our country was created, it has been ruled by two political parties. 1. Whigs, federalists, anti: Republicans always want less government 2. Democrats have always supported a stronger federal government C. Just because a man is from a party, does not mean he agrees with all party views. 1. Romneys changes 2. John Kerrys changes 3. Ron Pauls liberal views II. All U. S. Politics are reliant on the two party systems A. Congress 1. Two independents in total for both the House and the Senate 2. Lieberman B. 33% Identify for Republicans, 33% Identify for Democrats, 33% Identify as Independents. C. Independents are not true Independents 1 . Study on leaning toward a side. 2. Moderate Republicans and Democrats. Ill. Our country is a two party form of government, because of how elections are set up. A. Winner take all. 1. 50% Republicans, 49% Democrats a. ) all votes would go to Republicans B. Reason why we have no strong 3rd party. C. What would happen if a third party rose to power 1. 1992 Presidential Election 2. Tea Party V. If any President would have run as a third-party candidate, he would have lost. A. Elections do not come down to who is the best man. It comes down to party support(funding, votes) Name recognition, controlling party of current government, and how that controlling party is doing. 1. 1992 Elections 2. Ralph Nader 3. Abraham Lincoln 4. 2006 Democrat takeover(timing and why) B. Why Joe Liberman won as Independent but not a Democratic 1. Lost in Democratic primary 2. received Republican support to win Re-election, but as an Independent. V. Closing A. Future Predictions 1 . Younger Voters a. ) Social and Fiscal Issue