POLITICAL PARTIES

There is one more very important part of the American political scene which is not part of any formal written document: the political party system.

The Constitution says nothing about political parties, but over time the U.S. has in fact developed a two-party system.

The writers of the Constitution feared that parties representing narrow interests rather than the general interest of all the people could take over the government. They hoped the government would be run by qualified people who did not have a second loyalty - a loyalty to a party. They believed their government would work well without parties. Despite this, parties began to form shortly after the Constitution went into effect; parties proved to be an effective way within a system of checks and balances for people with similar views to band together to achieve national goals.

Today, the United States has two major political parties. One is the Democratic party, the other is the Republican party. Most Americans today consider the Democratic party the more liberal party. By that they mean that Democrats believe the federal government and the state governments should be active in providing social and economic programs for those who need them, such as the poor, the unemployed or students who need money to go to college. The Democrats earned that reputation in the 1930s when there was a worldwide economic depression. Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" plan, Democrats set up government programs that provided paid employment for people building dams and roads and public buildings. The government under the Democratic party established many other programs including Social Security which ensures that those who are retired or disabled receive monthly payments from the government. Labor unions also received active government, and Democratic party, support in the New Deal era.

Republicans are not necessarily opposed to such programs. They believe, however, that many social programs are too costly to the taxpayers and that when taxes are raised to pay for such programs everyone is hurt. They place more emphasis on private enterprise and often accuse the Democrats of making the government too expensive and of creating too many laws that harm individual initiative. For that reason, Americans tend to think of the Republican party as more conservative.

There are other, smaller parties in the United States besides the two major parties. None of these smaller parties has enough popular support to win a presidential election, but some are very strong in certain cities and states and can have their own state or city candidates elected or can determine which major party wins by supporting one or the other.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1244