Wednesday, October 19, 2016

ELECTILE DYSFUNCTION IN THE UNITED STATES: 2016!


Twice in the history of our republic, major political parties have imploded thus creating a vacuum in the two-party system allowing another party to rise into contention for the Presidency established by the Constitution ratified in 1789: Federalists & Whigs ~ JDHWB-R
 
Political parties in the United States
 
The political parties in the United States are political parties in American politics that were mostly dominated by a two-party system. However, the United States Constitution has always been silent on the issue of political parties; at the time it was signed in 1787, there were no parties in the nation. Indeed, no nation in the world had voter-based political parties. The need to win popular support in a republic led to the American invention of voter-based political parties in the 1790s. Americans were especially innovative in devising new campaign techniques that linked public opinion with public policy through the party.

Political scientists and historians have divided the development of America's two-party system into five eras. The first two-party system consisted of the Federalist Party, who supported the ratification of the Constitution, and the Democratic-Republican Party or the Anti-Federalists, who opposed the powerful central government, among others, that the Constitution established when it took effect in 1789. The modern two-party system consists of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Several third parties also operate in the U.S., and from time to time elect someone to local office. The largest third party since the 1980s is the Libertarian Party.

The United States Constitution has never formally addressed the issue of political parties. The Founding Fathers did not originally intend for American politics to be partisan. In Federalist Papers No. 9 and No. 10, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, respectively, wrote specifically about the dangers of domestic political factions. In addition, the first President of the United States, George Washington, was not a member of any political party at the time of his election or throughout his tenure as president. Furthermore, he hoped that political parties would not be formed, fearing conflict and stagnation, as outlined in his Farewell Address.

Nevertheless, the beginnings of the American two-party system emerged from his immediate circle of advisers. Hamilton and Madison, who wrote the aforementioned Federalist Papers against political factions, ended up being the core leaders in this emerging party system. It was the split camps of Federalists, given rise with Hamilton as a leader, and Democratic-Republicans, with Madison and Thomas Jefferson helming this political faction, that created the environment in which partisanship, once distasteful, came to being.

The First Party System of the United States featured the Federalist Party and the Republican Party (also called "Democratic-Republican" or "Jeffersonian Republican"). The Federalist Party grew from the national network of Washington's Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, who favored a strong united central government, close ties to Britain, a centralized banking system, and close links between the government and men of wealth. The Republican Party was founded by Madison and Thomas Jefferson, who strongly opposed Hamilton's agenda. The Jeffersonians came to power in 1800 and the Federalists were too elitist to compete effectively. They survived in the Northeast, but their refusal to support the War of 1812 verged on secession and was a devastating blow when the war ended well.

The Era of Good Feelings under President James Monroe (1816–1824) marked the end of the First Party System and a brief period in which partisanship was minimal.

In 1829, the Second Party System saw a split of the Democratic-Republican Party into the Jacksonian Democrats, who grew into the modern Democratic Party, led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay. The Democrats supported the primacy of the Presidency over the other branches of government, and opposed both the Bank of the United States as well as modernizing programs that they felt would build up industry at the expense of the taxpayer. The Whigs, on the other hand, advocated the primacy of Congress over the executive branch as well as policies of modernization and economic protectionism. Central political battles of this era were the Bank War and the Spoils system of federal patronage.

The 1850s saw the collapse of the Whig party, largely as a result of decline in its leadership and a major intra-party split over slavery as a result of the Compromise of 1850. In addition, the fading of old economic issues removed many of the unifying forces holding the party together.

The Third Party System stretched from 1854 to the mid-1890s, and was characterized by the emergence of the anti-slavery Republican Party (nicknamed "GOP"), which adopted many of the economic policies of the Whigs, such as national banks, railroads, high tariffs, homesteads and aid to land grant colleges. Civil war and Reconstruction issues polarized the parties until the Compromise of 1877, which ended the latter. Thus, both parties became broad-based voting coalitions. The race issue pulled newly enfranchised African Americans (Freedmen) into the Republican party while white southerners (Redeemers) joined the Democratic Party. The Democratic coalition also had conservative pro-business Bourbon Democrats, traditional Democrats in the North (many of them former Copperheads), and Catholic immigrants, among others. The Republican coalition also consisted of businessmen, shop owners, skilled craftsmen, clerks, and professionals who were attracted to the party's modernization policies.

The Fourth Party System, 1896 to 1932, retained the same primary parties as the Third Party System, but saw major shifts in the central issues of debate. This period also corresponded to the Progressive Era, and was dominated by the Republican Party. It began after the Republicans blamed the Democrats for the Panic of 1893, which later resulted in William McKinley's victory over William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 presidential election. The central domestic issues changed to government regulation of railroads and large corporations ("trusts"), the protective tariff, the role of labor unions, child labor, the need for a new banking system, corruption in party politics, primary elections, direct election of senators, racial segregation, efficiency in government, women's suffrage, and control of immigration. Most voting blocs continued unchanged, but some realignment took place, giving Republicans dominance in the industrial Northeast and new strength in the border states. Historians [who?] have long debated why no Labor Party emerged in the United States, in contrast to Western Europe.

The Fifth Party System emerged with the New Deal Coalition beginning in 1933. The Republicans began losing support after the Great Depression, giving rise to Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the activist New Deal. They promoted American Liberalism, anchored in a coalition of specific liberal groups, especially ethno-religious constituencies (Catholics, Jews, African Americans), white Southerners, well-organized labor unions, urban machines, progressive intellectuals, and populist farm groups. Opposition Republicans were split between a conservative wing, led by Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft, and a more successful moderate wing exemplified by the politics of Northeastern leaders such as Nelson Rockefeller, Jacob Javits, and Henry Cabot Lodge. The latter steadily lost influence inside the GOP after 1964.

Experts debate whether this era ended (and a Sixth Party System subsequently emerged) in the mid-1960s when the New Deal coalition died, the early 1980s when the Moral Majority and the Reagan coalition were formed, the early 1990s when Third Way emerged among Democrats, the mid-1990s during the Republican Revolution, or if the Fifth system continues in some form to the present. Since the 1930s, the Democrats positioned themselves more towards Liberalism while the Conservatives increasingly dominated the GOP. But new voter coalitions emerged during the latter half of the 20th Century, with Conservatives and the Republicans becoming dominant in the South, rural areas, and suburbs; while Liberals and the Democrats increasingly started to rely on a coalition of African-Americans, Hispanics and white urban Progressives.

Although American politics have been dominated by the two-party system, several other political parties have also emerged throughout the country's history. The oldest third party was the Anti-Masonic Party and was formed in upstate New York in 1828; the party's creators feared the Freemasons, believing they were a powerful secret society that was trying to rule the country in defiance of republican principles.

The modern political party system in the U.S. is a two-party system dominated by the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. These two parties have won every United States presidential election since 1852 and have controlled the United States Congress to some extent since at least 1856.

Democratic Party


The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the U.S. Founded in 1828 by Andrew Jackson, it is the oldest extant voter-based political party in the world.

The Democratic Party at its founding supported a different set of issues than it presently supports. From its founding until the New Deal Era, the Democratic Party was generally a classically liberal or libertarian party; it favored small government and states' rights. From its founding until the mid-20th century, the Democratic Party was the dominant party among white Southerners, and as such, was then the party most associated with the defense of slavery. However, following the Great Society under Lyndon B. Johnson, the Democratic Party became the more progressive party on issues of civil rights, while losing dominance in the Southern states to the Republicans.

The Democratic Party since 1912 has positioned itself as the liberal party on domestic issues. The economic philosophy of Franklin D. Roosevelt, which has strongly influenced modern American liberalism, has shaped much of the party's agenda since 1932. Roosevelt's New Deal coalition controlled the White House until 1968 with the exception of Eisenhower 1953–1961. Since the mid-20th century, Democrats have generally been in the center-left and currently support social justice, social liberalism, a mixed economy, and the welfare state, although Bill Clinton and other New Democrats have pushed for free trade and neoliberalism, which is seen to have shifted the party rightwards. Democrats are currently strongest on the East and West Coasts and in major American urban centers. African-Americans and Latinos tend to be disproportionately Democratic, as do trade unions.

In 2004, it was the largest political party, with 72 million registered voters (42.6% of 169 million registered) claiming affiliation. The president of the United States, Barack Obama, is the 15th Democrat to hold the office, and from the 2006 midterm elections until the 2014 midterm elections, the Democratic Party was the majority party in the United States Senate.

A 2011 USA Today review of state voter rolls indicates that the number of registered Democrats declined in 25 of 28 states (some states do not register voters by party). During this time, Republican registration also declined, as independent or no preference voting was on the rise. Democrats were still the largest political party with more than 42 million voters (compared with 30 million Republicans and 24 million independents). But in 2011 Democrats numbers shrank 800,000, and from 2008 they were down by 1.7 million, or 3.9%.

Republican Party


The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States of America. Since the 1880s it has been nicknamed (by the media) the "Grand Old Party" or GOP, although it is younger than the Democratic Party.

Founded in 1854 by Northern anti-slavery activists and modernizers, the Republican Party rose to prominence in 1860 with the election of Abraham Lincoln, who used the party machinery to support victory in the American Civil War. The GOP dominated national politics during the Third Party System, from 1854 to 1896, and the Fourth Party System from 1896 to 1932.

Since its founding, the Republican Party has been the more corporatist of the two American political parties, often favoring policies that aid American business interests. As a party whose power was once based on the voting clout of Union Army veterans, this party has traditionally supported more aggressive defense measures and more lavish veteran's benefits. Though initially founded to oppose slavery, following Richard Nixon's "Southern Strategy" in 1968, the Republican Party has become the less progressive party in areas of racial, gender and identity politics-motivated social justice. Today, the Republican Party supports an American conservative platform, with further foundations in economic liberalism, fiscal conservatism, and social conservatism. The Republican Party tends to be strongest in the Southern United States and the "flyover states", as well as suburban and rural areas in other states. One significant base of support for the Republican Party are Evangelical Christians, who have wielded significant clout in the party since the early 1970s.

Former President George W. Bush is the 19th and most recent Republican to hold that office. The party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election was Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, and their 2016 presidential nominee is businessman Donald Trump. Since the 2010 midterm elections, the Republicans have held a majority in the United States House of Representatives, and since the 2014 elections, the Senate.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_parties_in_the_United_States

Another opportunity for such an implosion to occur is presented with the Republican Party's choice of Donald Trump as their nominee. Neither the Democratic Party nominee, Hillary Clinton (whose selection at this year's convention in Philadelphia was shadowed by a cloud of corruption that prevented Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders from heading their ticket in 2016) nor Trump are popular candidates with the present electorate. Jill Stein of the Green Party has endorsed many facets of Bernie's platform but is merely a third party contender, like Gary Johnson of the Libertarian party in this election. However rhetoric spouted by Donald Trump has been so inflammatory against Latinos and also the LGBTQ community it could signal demise of the Republicans as a major party. Unless they change course from such extreme polarization, they could go the way of the Federalists and Whigs and allow another party, such as the Greens, to fill this vacuum, but When? 2020 Election? ~ JDHWB-R

Images Source: The Black Sheep Deli in Amherst, Massachusetts (sandwich menus)


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