Political Parties and the Two Party System

There are five main things that political parties do and those things are:

1. Nominate a Candidate: One of the biggest roles of a political party is to nominate and name a candidate that will represent the voters. These candidates are then helped by those who elected them to help win elections. By electing someone who will represent their political party they are putting someone out there in the public that they believe should be leading our country.

2. Informing and Activating Supporters: Another job tat parties have is to inform the people and inspire and activate their interest in public affairs. Parties do this by having commercials, take stands on issues, and criticize the candidates and their positions. Parties are trying to win elections so that they get what they want in government and the only way of doing that is by getting the people involved so that they pick the right candidate that will get the most votes by the American people.

3. The Bonding Agent Function: In politics political parties act as a "bonding agent" to ensure the good performance of its candidates and officeholders. When choosing a candidate a party must make sure that they are not only qualified for the position but also has a good personality and reputation. If a party does not take responsibility for its actions of its candidates then it may cause them to lose future elections. That is why it is extremely important for them to pick a candidate that will not make a fool of their party and will still work hard to do the things that the party wants them to do even after being elected.

4. Governing: In many ways when an official of a certain party is elected that party runs the government. Public officeholders are regularly elected on a party basis and conduct much of their business on the basis of partisanship. Which is the strong support of their policy and its policy stands.

5. Acting as Watchdog: Parties act as watchdogs over the conduct of the public's business. This is very true for the party that is out of control because they are always watching and waiting for the party in power to make a mistake. They try to convince voters that the party in power should be thrown out of poer and that they should be in power.

"Why do we have a two party system?"

There are four main reasons why our government runs on a two party system:

1. The Historical Basis: The two party system is rooted in the beginning of the nation itself. The framers of the constitution were opposed to political parties. With the ratification of the U.S. Constitution came the creation not Americas first two parties. The federalists and the Anti-federalists.

2. The force of tradition: Once the two parties were established, human institutions seem to keep going. The very fact that the nation began with a two party system had been a leading reason for the retention of a two party system. Because so many Americans are used to the two parties headway for other parties has made no progress because Americans stick with Tradition.

3. The Electoral System: The prevalence of single member districts is one of the most important of these features. Nearly all of the elections that are held in our country from the president down are single member district elections, which means that only one candidate is elected into that position. Americans look at candidates from minor parties as wasted votes because they know that they will not be able to win the election. That is why they put the people who have the best chance of winning on the ballet.

4. The American Ideological Consensus: Over the years Americans have as a whole shared many of the same ideals, the same basic principles, and the same patterns of belief. Though our country is made up of many different races and people we all have many of the same ideals. Though we are a nation of change we are not a huge nation of change.