Essay plans for parties (3C)

PARTIES

Party Decline vs Party renewal debate

High levels of bipartisanship. Both parties given the number of factions that exist appear to be broad coalitions when voting. 9/11 victim’s bill had cooperation from both parties in overturning the veto. Blue dogs siding with the GOP against Obamacare.	2013 is the Least productive legislative year ever. 113th and 112th congress = least productive since the do nothing congress. Government shutdown of 2013 caused by divisions between the parties. 113th congress = most polarized ever.
Party leadership is weak. This is party decline, as leadership has no control over members who are no longer toeing the party line. They are no longer following a specific policy set out by the leaders. Rand Paul - Rebellions against PATRIOT act renewal. (Against McConnell) Boehner ‘prisoner of the extreme wing of his own party’.	Stats show that democrats and GOP are voting among each other more than ever. GOP house - 92% Senate democrats - 94% Leadership strong shows everyone is toeing the party line.
Primaries. Party leaders can no longer choose their candidate a severe loss of clout. One of its core functions is to choose a candidate, 70s reform has removed this ability.	Super delegates make up 20% of the vote. Played a major role in electing Obama. Still have influence. Party renewal as they evolve over time to be more democratic.
Parties no longer set agenda. E.E Schattschneider said that interest groups set political agenda, which is then adopted by the party. Parties’ hide, fearing that bringing up an issue would harm electoral prospects. Occupy Wall Street movement spread to 70 cities. Highlight financial inequality. BLM.	Increasing use of nationalised elections. Party unites to focus on an issue for an election shows that they are setting the political agenda. Six for 06 campaigns by democrats in 2006 acted as a national referendum on Bush. 2014 midterms most nationalised ever in 56 years.
Interest groups replace parties’ communication. Through TV ads and opinion polls. More candidates centred. People vote candidate not party. Candidates organise own campaign at invisible primaries.	Exaggerated, as all but 2 members of Congress are independent. All republican or democrat. Party loyalty stronger, split ticket voting at 5.7%. Lowest since 1920. Parties more involved in campaigns, planning, polling and ads. Polarisation of parties has entrenched loyalty.

Divisions within the Republican Party

Immigration. Deeply divided on immigration reform as some want to go further than others. Trump extreme vetting, gang of 8 bills with McCain and Rubio.	Majority of the party are on a consensus opposing comprehensive immigration reform. Trump views do not reflect the actual will of the party, which has drifted away from Trump, lightened position, as they need Hispanic vote. Still anti-broken system of immigration.
Foreign policy. Syria specifically. They are divided because they have opposing views on their approach to Syria, some want ground troops like Lindsay Graham and some want carpet-bombing like Ted Cruz. Paul Ryan led a rebellion in the senate on delaying the PATRIOT act.	Republicans still have a strong hawkish stance that American interests must be protected. All agree that something must be done.
Candidate. Many republicans denounce their policies of Trump yet a lot still support his points like Sarah Palin and Chris Christie. Even Mike Pence has clashed with him over the banning of Muslims from entering the US or the extreme vetting process proposed.	Overall the party and the establishment disagree and not support Trump. They are united in their disapproval of Trump.
Tea Party polarising. Stirred up a lot of divisions, popped up in 2010 and since then have targeted republicans calling them RINOs. Tea party have gone as far as attacking midterm elections by replacing RINOs with the Tea Party. Tea party not republicans caused the government shutdown of 2010.	Tea party have slowly begun to disappear from the news after the government shutdown. Tea party, republicans do not actually have policy divisions, only tactically divided as stated by Paul Waldman of the Washington post recently.
Social policy. The GOP is divided occasionally on social issues especially with socially conservative ideas being in the smear zone as suggested by Bill O’Reilly. Difficulty accepting legal climate and social shifts.	Divisions are often exaggerated, few republicans have actually come out in favour of gay marriage. Obergefell v Hodges.

Explain the main ideas and policies of the Republican Party 15

• One of the main values of the Republican party is limited government intervention, this means that the Republican party is anti-federalist, this is evident in their opposition to many federal intervention bills like Obamacare and the Stimulus bill. This was seen in the government shutdown of 2013, which was prompted by the GOP due to their opposition towards Obamacare. This is also seen through the president elects comments that ‘gay marriage is a state-issue’ suggesting that the case of Obergefell v Hodges which legalised gay marriage in the US should not be forced upon every state.
• Another main idea of the Republican party is a hawkish foreign policy which is evident through almost all of the Republican candidates for presidency such as Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush who stated that they support the extreme policy of carpet bombing Syria entirely. This is an idea that is firmly upheld by the neo-conservative faction in the GOP who support the promotion of democracy overseas and promoting American interests abroad.
• Additionally, social conservatism values dominate GOP policy whereby they are predominantly pro-life, promote gun rights and hold less sympathy towards immigrants. The GOP candidates have almost all stated that they will defund planned parenthood or put it through intensive reform. They have opposed the decision of Obergefell v Hodges which legalised gay marriage
  
  
  Why and to what extent does the Republican Party oppose affirmative action?
  
  
  • Inequalities exist but AA is not the answer.  The Republican Party recognise that there are serious inequalities that exist in America but that that they should be addressed through class-based programmes. Helping the most needy in society regardless of race is a better policy in the opinion of the GOP. Ted Cruz stated that he would adopt economic affirmative action instead of race-based affirmative action.
  • Takes away from merit. The idea of affirmative action has made many that actually be affected through it to feel as though their position is due to the colour of their skin rather than merit and achievement. They did not make it there on their own.
  • Fiscal conservatives. Affirmative action is sometimes quite expensive and requires government intervention, something that is largely opposed by the GOP overall as AA requires a large amount of government intervention. Especially since almost all Republicans are anti-federalist.
  • ????
  
  
  Why are African American voters so loyal to the Democrat party?
  
  
  • History. The democrats have become the party of the minorities, with policies like the New Deal and Truman’s executive orders desegregating the military still having a huge impact on today’s society. With most civil rights legislation coming from the Democrat party such as the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act and the introduction of Affirmative Action, which still goes on today. Historically, the Democrats have been a liberal party promoting initiatives that are supported or beneficial to the black community, such as Affirmative Action: EXAMPLES: OR, Democrats like Bernie Sanders and Obama have been saying they support black lives matter
  • Push reasons. The republican party have pushed away black voters through things like Ronald Reagan or George Bush generally being seen as anti-black, especially seen with how George Bush’s policies led to issues with the handling of the situation after Hurricane Katrina due to how Bush took away funds from the department in charge of this. Led to the famous outburst by Kanye West that ‘George Bush doesn’t like black people’ + Donald Trump and his comments on black people, etc
  • Obama.  The first black president in US history is black and his policies such as Obamacare were more in favour of those less economically advantaged, and these tend to be minorities as they make up the majority of those living in poverty.
  • The first black president. The empathy shown by Bill Clinton towards black people and the employment of many of them into the federal administration has led to many claims that Bill Clinton was in fact the first black president. Showing how the democrat party has significantly focused their efforts on aiding black people.
  
  
  To what extent are their divisions between the main political parties over racial and ethnic issues?
  • Affirmative action. The republicans have always been hostile towards AA as they hold the belief that government should be colour blind and that AA unjustly penalises the white community. Republicans greatly supported the Schuette v Coalition case which although it maintained that AA is constitutional, it now allowed it to be outlawed in states via propositions and initiatives. The democrats have always maintained a positive standpoint on AA, having actually brought it in under Johnson.
  • Voting rights. The republicans have generally opposed the Voting Rights Act, which has the Democrat party as its ardent supporters with the overwhelming renewal vote which was near unanimous in 2006. More recently, the republicans and democrats are constantly clashing over Shelby County V Holder where the Republicans support Voter ID laws and Democrats oppose it because minorities are more likely to be poor and not actually have such an ID. Restricts minority vote. Voter ID laws originate in GOP dominated states, Democrats across the country have spoken out against them, some (D) California Rep even said that such laws were racist
  • Immigration reform. The Republicans tend to have a hard line conservative approach/social conservative approach to immigration and therefore have more extreme policies towards it such as Trumps most recent claims of wanting to deport all 11million illegal immigrants which has sparked claims as to whether this is even possible at all. The democrats however, are more in favour of pathways to citizenship and extending visas, this was seen in the Gang of 8 Bill with the overwhelming support by Democrats and overwhelming opposition by Republicans.
  • Stop and frisk. The Republicans are heavily in favour of this policy, which has generally been used by the police to target minority males as 70% of stop, and frisks occur to non-whites. The democrats have generally been against this as it has been argued to enforce institutionalised racism in the police force.