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.

Is moderate conservatism in decline?

'Moderate Conservatism is a declining force in the Republican Party.' Discuss. 

Moderate conservatives within the Republican Party tend to lean towards the centre-right on many issues such as social policy by supporting gay marriage, women's right to an abortion and at times advocating comprehensive immigration reform, a more centrist stance is also evident on economic policy. Moderates are a dying breed within the GOP, which has become increasingly polarised in recent years due to the emergence of the Tea Party Movement which has moved the party further to the right. The fact two moderates, John McCain and Mitt Romney, failed to win in 2008 and 2012 respectively and faced heavy criticism from their party and that the 2016 race seems dominated by hardline conservatives, illustrates the fact moderates are indeed a declining force.

The 2008 and 2012 presidential elections illustrated the fact that moderate conservatism is a declining force within the Republican Party. John McCain was accused by the GOP for being too moderate according to his voting record and his 2008 plans, while campaigning, for a complete complete overhaul of the immigration system was criticised by the OGP for being a 'sneaky' attempt at granting amnesty to illegal immigrants. Similarly, Mitt Romney was also slammed by his own party as being a 'weak moderate candidate' handpicked by the 'mushy-middle' GOP. The very fact these two candidates faced a considerable amount of backlash from their own political party illustrates the fact that the GOP themselves are killing off moderates within their own path. However, the opposing view is that moderates are not in decline given the fact that the past two Republican candidates were moderates in the presidential election, showing that moderate views are not in decline. Other candidates who were backed by the Tea Party in 2012 such as Herman Cain, Michele Bachman or Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul from the Libertarian wing failed to make any significant gains shows that moderates remain the overall dominant wing of the party. However, this trend has reversed and it seems the GOP are unable to win a presidential election on moderate policies, and thus the 2016 presidential race seems to have squeezed moderates out of the competition and the hopeful candidates are hardline fiscal conservatives, some from the Tea Party such as Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, emphasising the fact moderate conservatism is in decline.

Looking at the current GOP members who have announced their intentions to run for the 2016 presidential race, there is not a single moderate candidate amongst them who stands a chance at becoming a nominee. The 'top' candidates running are mainly hardline fiscal or social (or both) conservatives such as Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee or Marco Rubio, who was very recently abandoned by the moderates in the GOP. The fact that the GOP presidential race is dominated by conservatives highlights the premise that moderates are in fact in decline. On the other hand, although Jeb Bush has not yet announced his candidacy, according to the New York Times he most likely will. A recent article by the New York Times has suggested that Bush would stand in a position to consolidate the moderate wing of the GOP. Moderates play a bigger role in the GOP primaries process than they do in Washington and it will take an incredibly strong candidate to defeat a moderate like Bush who has a huge advantage among moderates. The reason moderates appear in decline and under represented in Congress is because most come from Blue states and thus, lose in general elections but in the primary process it's a completely different story. 2012 and 2008 exit polls showed moderates represent about 40% of the vote in most blue state primaries - its important to note moderate therefore are very often state governors rather than members of Congress. Conservative opposition to Bush don't have it easy as the right of the party is crowded by candidates with broad and factional appeal like Cruz and Paul, and thus it's likely Bush will consolidate moderates in the party showing that moderates are not in decline. However, indeed Bush's candidacy may lead to a revival of moderate activism, but today the GOP is heavily dominated by fiscal conservatives from the Tea Party and moderates have virtually gone extinct.

The rise and dominance of the Tea Party Movement has consolidated fiscal sentiments within the GOP, thereby squeezing out the moderates. Moderates have further declined due to the Tea Party through Republican primaries in which moderates have been targeted. Moderates have been referred to as Republicans In Name Only (RINOs), plunging the GOP into a civil war in which moderates have specifically been targeted leading to several moderates casualties like Charlie Crist who lost to Marco Rubio, Senator Lisa Murkowski lost to a favourable Tea Party candidate Joe Miller and Bob Bennett from Utah was denied his fourth term by the Tea Party. As the Tea Party have gradually wiped out RINOs in the party the moderates have declined and fiscal sentiments have been enforced within the GOP which is perhaps most evident from the 2015 budget approved by the GOP dominated Congress. The budget itself is as fiscal as fiscal gets, introducing a balanced budget with $5.3 trillion in cuts making it easier to repeal Obamacare, demonstrating how fiscal conservatives dominate the party. Although the Tea Party have indeed won over many moderates, moderates have also put up a fight in the most recent primaries with critics and journalists arguing that the Tea Party lost the 2014 Republican primaries. North Carolina's House Speaker, Tom Tillis, a notable moderate, successfully beat several more conservative candidates than himself and he was also endorsed by Je Bush, Mitt Romney and the U.S Chamber of Commerce and American Crossroads who spent $2.6 million on Tillis. Other casualties were experienced by the Tea Party in Ohio and Indiana which illustrates that moderates remain active in the party. However, such victories are minor compared to the major losses endured by the moderates in previous elections which also highlights that at a time of increasing polarisation, moderates are no longer popular among the electorate.

Social conservatism is another powerful element within the GOP (often working in conjunction with fiscal conservatism) and with Congress now a GOP stronghold, social conservatives have become increasingly rampant on a range of social issues. This was seen recently in the House of Representatives by Republican attempts at pushing forward legislation instructing doctors performing late term abortions to take the best possible steps to ensure the survival of the foetus, which is all a part of wider GOP attempts to criminalise all abortions starting at the 20th week of pregnancy. The moderates, however, are no where to be seen as their influence against such measures are ineffective, emphasising how moderates are weak in the 114th Congress. However, as Bill O'Reilly from Fox News said recently, 'its a tough time for social conservatives in America' who are in the 'smear-zone', pointing to key figures like Scott Walker and Marco Rubio who have faced major backlash from the public for their tough stance on social issues. This is because social conservatives, as John McCain famously said, 'are agents of intolerance' in a time when societal attitudes towards issues like gay marriage are evolving. With key Republican figures like Jeb Bush endorsing same-sex marriage and the Supreme Court ruling in favour of it through U.S v Windsor, Hollingsworth v. Perry and the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, it is the social conservatives who have declined where as moderate views on social policy has become more largely accepted. However, the vast majority of the Republican Party remain in stark opposition to issues like gay marriage and continue to have a strict stance on social issues in spite of societal attitudes changing.

Finally, moderate conservatives believe in having fewer restrictions on legal immigration, tend to support comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship. However, as demonstrated by Republican position to Democrat attempts at comprehensive immigration reform, moderate sentiments on immigration reform are declining. This was evident fem opposition to Obama's executive order in November 2014 which sought to aid five million illegal immigrants and previous Democrat efforts to reintroduce the DREAM Act. Clearly the GOP have adopted a hard and strict stance on immigration, which is also evident at state level. For instance, Republican Arizona passed SB 1070 into law which is today known for being the strictest anti-immigration bill giving law enforcement more powers to check people's immigration status with 'reasonable suspicion' and a range of other measures. However, perhaps at national level the moderates have indeed gone extinct but at state level they're still very active, which was evident earlier this year in the Texas legislature when attempts were made to restrict immigration heavily (such as by limiting sanctuary cities). However, the bills were met with gridlock in the Texas House and Senate following heavy opposition from moderates. Moreover, moderates were also seen to be active in Washington recently after John House Speaker John Boehner (who's been criticised for being too moderate) along with dozens other Republicans and Democrats attempted to pass a 3 week extension bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, allowing for Obama's executive order to proceed. Although the bill failed and a shorter one-week extension was passed instead, this bill gained a lot of media attention and it highlighted how moderates remain active within the GOP. Although they may remain active on certain issues, the moderates have virtually gone extinct and are no longer as influential as they used to be.

As demonstrated above, the Republican Party have crushed their moderate wing in recent years through primaries and increasing polarisation which has shifted the party further to the right. Moderates within the GOP are no longer active at national level in Washington but are more popular at state level and it will someone like Jeb Bush to reconsolidate the moderate wing of the party.