Friday, February 12, 2010

Crunch time is creeping up...please read the chapter on political parties again. There is a great video summary below.

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=57698@wbbm.dayport.com

Arguably, political parties are less significant in elections than they have been historically. What factors have led to a decrease in the importance of political parties?

Third parties are like bees!!!

21 comments:

jmarczewski said...

First off, these guys seem much more knowledgeable and certified to be delivering news than our good buddy Carl Azuz. I say this because they not only choose to not include the lamest jokes of all time in their broadcast, but because they provide a simple explanation of a complex chapter of reading FOR ME. Political parties have become less important because there are many factions within them that provide discrepancies among the members of that party. As the two men in the clip--as well as Brittney Spears--say, political parties have become "just like a circus"--a big tent covers the different aspects of the main thing. If it's part of the question, I agree with this statement...

And I thought third parties were like bees because people swat them away constantly since they don't want to be bothered by them.

klatour said...

I think political parties have become less important over time because not everything a candidate does will necessarily fall under the category of what that political party should do. It ends up that they do anything for the votes and sometimes that means adjusting beliefs to reach out to a greater population. The bee thing actually makes sense. The effect third parties have may be important one election, but then they don't have a large impact again for a long time.

nsomers said...

Over the past few years people have become disenchanted with both parties. Voters are now choosing to vote for candidates rather than a party. Third parties are like bees because just as bees pollinate flowers to help them grow, third parties help the candidate they want get elected.

Diana said...

third parties are do not take the front seat normally. They help the main candidates running to get into office. They are categorized as bees, in my opinion, because they look busy but aren't really doing a whole lot.

Astoiber said...

Until 1971 the government actually disrupted and prevented third parties from getting any political power. (COINTELPRO)
as long as our two party system is in place, third parties will never gain control of the white house. there are few victories, such as the first socialist senator from vermont. but these do not add up to to incite any major change.

the republican and democratic parties have gotten WAY too huge and powerful.
what happened to our system of checks and balances?

Ryan Paprocki said...

Oops it's Monday today isn't it...

COINTELPRO just reminds me of how much I hate America.

Since the same group of capitalists own both parties, we need to be letting more parties come arise. In the name of fairness, logic, and evident reason.

Unknown said...

Carl Azuz is better than these 2, do i have to disagree with jesse on everything? well i found this video to be very informative, i especially liked the tent analogy. Republicans fall under that because elephants live in tents. but all joking aside i believe political parties have become more important over the years, even though they have a lot less power due to regulations. they can just influence more, while that may seem oxymoronic (?is that a word?) they seem to be the biggest educator of american politics to those new hippie kids with their james taylor cds and ephones. they also teach us that in america, you should only be treated well if you are a white protestant male who is wealthy. while all of those people in dane county argue that they should be able to make items out of hemp with their same sex partner while they work together with their black and hispanic brethren to create a better world where people no matter how openly gay they are, are able to serve in the military. oh and they would work for free because the democratic government will spend all of our money on health care and bailing out the banks. while the republicans will want to return to the old days of ronald reagan, they all like reagan, because... well they aren't really quite sure, but they do.

aprichard said...

What factors have led to a decrease in the importance of political parties?

Well... Not a very easy question to answer. One factor is the stancec that the two parties take on issues relevant to majority of society. True, there are some severe and starkly contrasting views on U.S politics by both parties, but many of the positions have become very similar. The Republican party, traditionally mad up of the rich and wealthy, have expanded to relate with the middle class, the working poor, and minority groups. The democratic party has typically been the party of choice to these groups and have tried to gain the upper class and convert the republican middle class. Both parties desire the votes of these group and will offer insentives to each group to get the vote. Why does the party matter if both are concerned with the poor and both parties are going to give a tax cut to the poor? Suddenly, the significance of a political party or political alligence becomes far less substantial.

K-Iglinski said...

Third parties will never make it into the white house if we keep our two party system. We know that the third party is like a "BEE" but they can never seem to keep the momentum when they have a good run in the beginning. The political parties are way to powerful at this time. All the parties were to be equal and have a fare chance. Third parties are who feed the democrats and the republicians.

Diana said...

In my opinion, political parties are not as important today as they once were is because people tend to vote for certain politicans because of their beliefs on a social issue or a certain moral stance. People seem to vote for an issue and not a political party. They identify more with ideas than Democratic or Republican.

jmarczewski said...

Political parties have become less significant because voters tend to base their decisions not on a certain party they are dedicated to, but rather the issues that are most important to them. For instance, if one who considers himself a consistent Republican suddenly has sister dealing with a pregnancy and wishes to abort the child for certain medical reasons, he/she may choose to vote Democratic in the next election in favor of laws legalizing abortion. It appears that nowadays the issues shape the candidates rather than the parties shape the candidates.

AAgostini said...

Political parties are becoming less important because both voters and politicians are becoming less black and white (or red and blue). As a result, each vote varies by the current circumstances and the particular candidates more than Democratic or Republican identies. If candidates stray from strict party stereotypes then voters must wait to know the candidate's stances rather than voting simply out of party affiliation.

Alex York said...

May I rant?

OK thanks for your approval.

The political parties in this country are bad.

End rant.

I think that there is no reason why our government cannot work together. The fact that political parties can't work together to get stuff done is just sickening. Most of each party is moderate, but seem to be held back by the more radical members of their respective parties. Nevertheless, nothing can get done.

Unknown said...

I believe political parties have become less important over the years. Most people these days consider themselves moderates. Because of this the candidates can't be strictly republican, nor can they be strictly democrat. They would undoubtedly lose. People vote on how a candidate feels about certain issues rather than voting for a specific party. I think third parties are called bees because every bee has a small job and that job may not mean much on its own but when you put it together with all the other jobs it makes a huge difference. Just like a third party could change the entire outcome of an election.

MKlinka said...

parties are starting to become blurred, where do we draw the line? For example, what really are RINOs? Moreover, parties have a certain stigma attached to them. Republican's are bullheaded and Dems are dirty liars. Really, it comes down to what the president does when he takes office, or what he fails to do. That isn't a result of party actions though, so it's silly.

Also, we definitely needed Carl Azuz here, he's the only one qualified enough for something serious.

K-Laz said...

The parties have been used as labels forever. The main thing that has been lessening the importance of them is the way people are voting now. As Jesse said, the people are voting for the issue over the party more than ever. There are circumstance like Jesse indicated that may sway the vote away from a certain party. And on top of all this, there are third parties that make appearances just to pose a different view on certain issues. These parties will never take the W in an election, but as they keep bringing up certain issues, they will gain more power in elections. This in turn decreases the importance of the two political party powerhouses.

PMiner said...

Nobody has anwsered Mr. Bretzmann's question... well I will!
1. There has been a sharp decline in party enrollment (people are not affiliating themselves with a single party)
2. Increase in self-described independents (more people are becomming independent and less orthodoxy)
3. More ticket splitting (more people are voting for or against a canidate rather than a party)
4. Impact of media on campaign (it has made it significantly tougher for the canidates to get their message out to the people)
5. Special Interest Groups and PACs (they have reduced the need for elected officials to use traditional party resources)

Mr. Bretzmann said...

A Miner victory is a major accomplishment! Well done.

PMiner said...

yeah, well i really had to dig it out this time

Unknown said...

first off, paul has a ridiculously creepy picture. and secondly when will a new post come up? im running out of ideas for which posts i need to go back and do. how else am i suposd to share all of my bretzmann brainwashing?

Blake Kraussel hr. 2 said...

The reason that I think political parties are of less importance now days is that politicans want power. In many cases, in order to have power one must be known. A way of being known and respected is for everyone to like you. So, what I am trying to say is that politicans are becoming more moderate. They want to please as many people as they can, in most cases. For example, lately in the news Democrats are mad because President Obama has become very moderate on things he promised Democrats he would get done. President Obama is smart, he wants to please both the Democrats and the Republicans. Unfortuantly this is hard to do. In conclusion, the reason that political parties have become less important is becasue Politicans want to make more people happy, resulting in reelection.