Text 8. THE PARTY ORGANIZATION

The party system is the most significant organizational unit in Congress and many state legislatures. Legislators run for office as Democrats or Republicans and, once in the legislature, organize themselves according to these labels. In each house of Congress, and in each house of most state legislatures, each party has a caucus (often referred to as a conference) made up of all legislators of that party. The U.S. House of Representatives, for example, has the Democratic Caucus and the Republican Conference. The U.S. Senate has the Democratic and Republican Conferences – these are formal organizations that meet regularly in most jurisdictions and adopt and operate under their own caucus by-laws and customs.

The caucuses also establish committees to aid in the performance of their functions. For example, the Democratic Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 103^rd Congress, 1993-1994 had the Democratic Personnel Committee (patronage), the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee (legislative scheduling and committee assignments), and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (campaign support for House seats). The Republican Conference of the House had the National Republican Congressional Committee (campaign support), the Republican Committee on Committees (committee appointments), the Republican Policy Committee (legislative strategy), and the Republican Research Committee (developments of policy alternatives).

Although the legislative caucuses bear the name of national and state political parties, to a substantial extent they exist separately from these parties. National and state parties are dominated by presidential and gubernatorial politics. Power for these parties is achieved through successful executive elections. This requires making choices among the many disparate views that constitute a single party in a two-party system in order to create a platform on which to run. If the national or state party elects a chief executive, that executive usually appoints the leader of the national or state party and totally controls its efforts. The executive’s programs become the national or state party’s programs. Power, for legislative caucuses comes from having as large a membership as possible. As discussed below, the majority party dominates the legislative process, and the larger the majority the greater this domination. This creates, within the legislative caucus, a distaste for ideological choices that might drive members from its ranks.

The legislative party system serves two functions; legislative governance and legislative consensus building or policy making. As an institution of governance, the party system determines legislative, committee, and subcommittee leadership; the allocation of staff and financial resources; and the daily flow of legislative activities. As a consensus builder, the caucus serves as a forum for policy and political debate, hammering out critical differences among party members on many issues in order to provide for a unified front to the opposite party on the floor of the chamber.

This unifying role is particularly important given American two-party system, in which legislators in one party may hold a variety of conflicting points of view. In fact, almost every view on every issue is represented in each party. Individuals choose to become Democrats or Republicans for a wide variety of reasons. Sometimes it has to do with support for particular legislative positions, but more likely these choices are determined by broader perceptions of the party’s views of defining events (the Vietnam War) or perceptions (pro-labor, pro-business), or by family tradition, culture, or opportunity. Democratic and Republican legislators may be for or against government regulation of abortion, for or against more aid to the poor, for or against higher or lower taxes, for or against more regulation of industry to protect the environment, or for or against free trade treaties. Such disparate interests and views must be melded to advance legislation.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 543