American Government Unit 2 Study Guide – Flashcards

Multi-Party System, Two party System, One party system

Compromise in which the two major parties find common ground. They work together to shape election laws in such a way that minor party/independent candidates have a harder time of winning

Diverse representation, instability, power to govern must be shared by a number of parties in a coalition because it is hard to find a single majority

Literally only one political party. Dictatorship or a State that is run by one political party

1. Nominating Candidates 2. Informing and Activating Supporters 3. The bonding agent function (ensure the good performance of its candidates and officeholders. When choosing a candidate a party must make sure that they are not only qualified for the position but also has a good personality and reputation.) 4. Governing 5. The Watchdog Function (Watchdog over the conduction of the public's business...usually the job of the party NOT In power...they criticize the party in power and try to throw out the party in power.)

Era of Democrats (Thomas Jefferson elected), Era of the Republicans (Civil War), Return of the Democrats (Great Depression and FDR), Era of Divided Government (Nixon)

Ideological parties Single-issue parties Economic protest parties Splinter Parties

Based on a particular set of beliefs

focused on one public policy matter

rooted in periods of economic discontent, focus anger on real or imagined enemies such as the monetary system, wall street, railroads, or foreign imports

Parties that have split away from major parties

Federalism is a major reason for the decentralized nature of the two major political parties. Party's main goal is to win elected offices. In federal system, offices are widely distributed over the national, State, and local levels. Because the governmental system is decentralized, so too are the major parties that serve it.

Produce a broader representation of the electorate. That strength is also a weakness, because it leads to instability. One party is not as able to win the support of the majority of voters because the parties are smaller, therefore the power must be shared between different groups in the coalition.

$5000 to candidates/election cycle $15,000 to each political party/year $5000 to other PACs/year -seek to affect the making of public policy, can only raise money from their members (executives, employees, and stockholders of a corporation) unless they are unconnected in which case they can raise money from the public, can give $5000 per candidate but no overall limit -Controversial lobbying activities, exert too much influence on the government

free from spending/fundraising limits, as long as they don't coordinate/contribute to the candidates themselves (after Supreme court ruling struck down bipartisan campaign reform act that regulated independent corporate campaign spending) -can directly advocate/oppose specific candidates

tax-exempt interest groups that raise money to publicize/ gather support for political issues, unlimited contributions -evade many of the restrictions placed upon lobbyists through the 1995 lobbying disclosure act, and on soft money through the bipartisan campaign reform act -many candidates organize their own 527 groups to provide unlimited funding for issues they support

Federal Election Committee that administers and enforces the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) - the statute that governs the financing of federal elections

Age, Citizen, Registering, Residence