As discussed in module 1 the questions of if parties are representative of our preferences or if they are institutions that help translate preferences really helped me answer what a political party is. I feel that I feel that political parties do represent our, and by our I mean citizens, preferences on issues. Also I feel that political parties do translate our preferences. I guess in a political party this would be the busy aspect and the actual work part of a party.
One good way to explain a political party I feel was in the Federalist No. 10. I think that a party is a united group of people "acutuated by some common impulse of passion or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community." Political parties are used to maintain power in the government and help maintain order.
A political party I feel also has to deal with certain ideologies which also goes along I guess with the passions and interests of citizens. Political parties compete for power with one another which is what they need to do to survive and is an important feature for parties to exist.
A political party to me is a group of individuals that get together for a specific cause which has to do with political preference and certain ideologies. Interest groups are not political parties, but however they sometimes work closey with them in order to get legislation passed.
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What do Washington and Delay have to say about political parties. Are political parties necessary for representative democracy?
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with your assessment that interest groups are not political parties. They seem to have a real stranglehold on influencing political parties, however. It is amazing how powerful some special interests are, and how they organize (aka "lobby") so effectively in order to get detail orientated legislation passed.
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