Natalie Lopatowski
AP US Government and Politics
Political Parties
Political parties are very important in government. There main function is to “bring people together to achieve control of the government, develop policies favorable to their interests or the groups that support them, and organize and persuade voters to elect their candidates to office.” Basically they nominate candidates for public office and want as many people involved as possible in their party.
The two main political parties in the United States allure to as many different groups of people as possible. Republicans are known for conservative positions on social issues, apprehensiveness about the size of the government, and support of business. Traditional Democrat views believe that the government can solve many of the nation’s problems and sponsor labor and minorities.
With every election the political party chosen leads the next four to eight years. Though the Republican party has been the dominate one, this years election really left the Republican party in the dust and the Democrats leading the way. Also there were many exciting attributes to this years election that divided the Republicans and Democrats, beginning with an African American man and a women fighting to be elected for the Democrat party and we all know who wins because the world and government has forever changed. The Republicans did have some excitement with their party too when John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his vice president. This decision was not necessarily viewed as a positive one from conservatives or liberals and this once so dominate party began a downfall..
Today the Republican party seems to continue seeing problems and facing many difficulties even after the election, such as the party going through a little bit of an identity crisis and you have those in the leadership positions inside the party to mainly thank for this. Traditional Republican views have gotten the United States to where we are today and this new idea that the party needs to make itself more acceptable and open to those outside the party, which has resulted in failure. By pushing away from the core principles, I believe the Republican party has lost a sense of itself. But playing devils advocate there could be some truth to the republican party presenting itself to not want to recognize or adjust their beliefs that our nation has changed politically. The party needs to find a way to reach out to people not just people who are all the way to the right. Even trying to reach out to women, African Americans and Hispanics in a more positive way.
CliffsNotes.com. The Functions of Political Parties. 16 Apr 2009
