ROLE OF DEMOCRAT AND REPUBLICAN PARTIES

Role of Democrat and Republican Parties

Role of Democrat and Republican Parties

Introduction

Although the popular and Republican Parties have similar aspires and alike types, there are different in some very significant ways. These can be glimpsed not so much in principle outcomes, which should pass through the filter of political truth, as in the mode by which interior government is conducted. The difference is not one of government, but of political heritage.

Party Structure and the Flow of Power

In Ronald Reagan's acceptance speech at the 1984 Republican Convention he announced that the Democrats' "government sees persons only as a constituents of groups. Ours serves all the people of America as individuals." Although this characterization was proposed as a stinging condemnation of the Democrats, and they would decry it as incorrect, it does arrest an absolutely vital distinction between the two parties (though not inevitably their authorities) which is a direct consequence of the direction of the power flow.

The Democratic Party is composed of constituencies. These constituencies are ones which recognise themselves as having a salient attribute creating a widespread agenda which they seem the party should reply to. Virtually all of these groups live in coordinated form independent of the Party and seek to act on the elected officials of both parties. They are recognized by popular Party agents as representing the concerns of important blocs of voters which the Party must reply to as a Party. Some assemblies have been identified parts of the popular coalition since the New Deal (e.g. bneeds and labor); other ones are somewhat new (e.g. women and gays).

The Republican Party furthermore has relevant components, but they are not as important as the popular Party's constituent assemblies because they are not means for exercising power and they are not prime reference groups. Fgrade Fahrenkopf, RNC chairman from 1983 to 1989 recounted the GOP as "clearly the homogenous political party" contrasted to the Democrats. The rudimentary components of the Republican Party are geographic units and ideological factions. Unlike the popular assemblies, these entities live only as internal party mechanisms. The geographic flats -- state and localizedized parties -- are mainly channels for mobilizing support and circulating data on what the Party managers want. They are not distinct and distinct grades of operation.

Convention Activities

The distinction in the flow of power can be seen in the procedure of the national conventions. When not in session, the time of delegates assisting the popular conference is mostly used by with caucus meetings. In addition to state caucus meetings there are caucus meetings for any group which wishes to call one. Generally the DNC makes space accessible for these meetings, but rarely it turns down when it feels the assembly making the request is apparently functioning opposing to the interest of an incumbent President. Virtually all of these caucuses are open to whomever cares to join, including nonmembers. Competing candidates for the Presidential nominations accept the significance of the assembly by talking to its ...