3.1a Flashcards
Congressional campaign committee
A party committee in Congress that provides funds to members and would-be members
Caucus
A meeting of party members to select delegates backing one or another primary candidate
Critical or realignment period
Period when a major, lasting shift occurs in the popular coalition supporting one or both parties
Ideological party
A party that values principled stands on issues above all else
Mugwumps (progressives)
Republican Party faction of the 1890s to the 1910s, composed of reformers who opposed patronage
National chairman
Day to day party manager; elected by the national committee
National committee
Delegates who run party affairs between national conventions
National convention
A meeting of party delegates held every four years
Office-bloc ballet
A ballot listing all candidates of a given office under the name of that office; also called a “Massachusetts” ballot
Party-column ballot
A ballot listing all candidates of a given party together under the name of that party; also called an “Indian” ballot
Personal following
The political support provided to a candidate on the basis of personal popularity and networks
Plurality system
An electoral system in which the winner is the person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not receive a majority; used in almost all American elections
Political machine
A party organization that includes members by dispensing patronage
Political party
A group that seeks to elect candidates to public office
Solidary incentive
The social rewards (sense of pleasure, status, or companionship) that lead people to join political organizations
Split ticket
Voting for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election
Sponsored party
A local or state political party that is largely supported by another organization in the community
Straight ticket
Voting for candidates who are all of the same party
Super delegate
Party leader or elected official who becomes a delegate to the national convention without having to run in primaries or caucuses
Two-party system
Electoral system with two dominant parties that compete in national elections
Linkage institutions
Interest groups, the media, elections, and political parties
-Needed in any country with a population large enough to form a representative democracy
Ex- parties (Connect people in a large democracy to the government)
Political efficacy
Party ideology and organization increase ___________ by helping citizens to make sense of government decisions and process and to feel that the government listens to them
Winner take all (pluralist) electoral system
Single most important reason for two-party system
The winner in American elections is the one who receives the largest number of votes in each voting district
Proportional representation
Percentage of votes for a party’s candidate is directly applied as the percentage of representatives in the legislature
Realignment
Shifts in voting population causing change of Democratic or Republican era
Occur because issues change, and new schisms form between groups
Democratic Republicans
Anti-Federalists led by Thomas Jefferson
Only party during “Era of good feeling”
Whigs
Party who represented many of the interests of the old Federalist party
Non-ideological coherent party
Democratic Party INCOMPLETE
Formed by rural, antibank, small farmers from the south and west
Roosevelt coalition
For voting:
A combination of many different groups that wished to see Herbert Hoover defeated
Composed of eastern workers, southern and western farmers, blacks, and the ideologically liberal
Divided government
New balance of power between the Democrats and Republicans with Richard Nixon’s election
Control of the legislature and the presidency has been “divided” between the two major political parties
When one party holds the presidency, the other has dominated Congress, or at least the Senate
Gridlock
The tendency to paralyze decision-making
with one branch advocating one policy and the other another, contradicting policy
McGovern-Fraser Commission
Appointed by the Democratic Party to review the party structure and delegate selection procedures
Minor / third parties
Two categories:
Those dominated by an individual personality
Those organized around a long-lasting goal or ideology (abolitionists)
Populist party
First represented the interests of farmers, but was responsible for wide-ranging democratic reforms
HOWEVER
Their goals were adopted by a major party, deferring to the “winner take all,” or pluralist system, that supports a two party system
Dealignment
“Independents”
People who do not favor a party
They are in the middle
Laissez faire
A policy that advocated the free-market and few government regulations on business
Means “to leave alone”
Was the old philosophy of the Jacksonian farmers, who wanted government to allow them to make their own prosperity
“Era of Good Feeling”
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Outgo
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Democratic-Republicans
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