Party faithful often take extreme positions

Kay Murnan is president of League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri.

Political parties are a critical component of the American system of government. They are not in the Constitution, but they are the vehicle of power in the legislature and the presidency.

There is a significant difference between interest groups and political parties. Interest groups work in several different arenas to accomplish their limited range of goals, and political parties work in the governmental matrix to accomplish a broad range of goals, usually included in the party platform.

Parties are organized in a power pyramid with the national committees at the top and the party members at the base.

The only criteria for being a member of a political party is stating it. If you say that you are a Democrat or a Republican, then you are one.

In theory there is a party ideology that is quite different between the parties, but there will be people holding opposing views within each party.

The most devout of the party members are more extreme in their positions than most of the voters in the country.

In order to win an election, candidates generally have to appeal to the middle-of- the-road, moderate voters. This fact will encourage most candidates to try and temper extreme positions with caution to capture both the liberal or conservative faction, and the many undecided independent voters in the middle range.

In the Responsible Party Model, four conditions are met:

1. clear choice of ideologies;

2. candidates pledged to implement ideas;

3. party held accountable by voters; and

4. party control over members.

This is an ideal and not the actual situation in the United States.

Southern shift

When racial issues and states' rights issues became topical in the early 1950s, the voters in the Deep South reversed allegiances: White voters became Dixiecrats and joined the Republican party; black voters changed to Democrats because the party platforms and dynamics had changed.

Southern Blacks originally affiliated with the Republicans as the party of their freedom, while Southern Whites affiliated with the Democratic party as the party in opposition to the Union.

In the early 1950s the Democrats were moving toward a strong stance to support civil rights. President Harry Truman integrated the Armed Forces with an executive order. This change caused the changes in party loyalty in the South.

Party business

Political parties have two main tasks: electioneering and governing.

Each party nominates a slate of candidates that are first voted on in a primary election and then a general election. The nominating conventions meet to formally choose their nominees for president.

Until recent times the actual selection of the candidate was done in the convention, but now most of the votes are committed in primaries and some caucuses, so the convention is more of a formality.

Another major job of the party convention is to create a party platform. The platform is a set of policy positions for the party to stand on, providing a guideline for voters about the differences between the parties on critical issues such as taxes, defense, social programs, etc. The platform will strongly reflect the positions of the chosen presidential candidate.

Governing includes activities that control the distribution of political resources through leadership in executive and legislative branches. In governance, the parties serve a vital role with positions of power in each house of Congress and the presidency.

The system

The two-party system works well for the United States. It is a self-serving situation where the governing body and the two parties work together to the exclusion of smaller parties. It is very difficult for a small party to gain a place at the table when the bias is toward the two main parties.

Ralph Nader is concerned that the two-party system no longer works for our nation and wants to open up the system to include more diversity of views.