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Homework Assignments for Part 3
Question 1: Chapter 12, pp, 378-404: Party Decentralization
Landy argues that US political parties in the 19th century could capture the loyalty and energy of voters because they were highly decentralized. This means that parties did not a specific centralized authority or individual for making decisions on behalf of the other parties. All parties were equal and leaders had discretionary powers to make decisions that align with their members’ interests. Besides, parties were decentralized internally in the sense that they could accommodate ideas and suggestions from diverse members within the party even though they had no greater authority or leadership position. In other words, parties of the 19th century were two democratic and this facilitated ideological, social, cultural, historical, and situational privileges which attracted more voters.
Party centralization is crucial because it facilitated ideological and sociological freedom. For example, political parties were not so much concerned about the ideological differences of their members or other parties but focused on unifying all the people regardless of the perceived differences. In that case, ideological characteristics were overlooked to unite all the members. Besides, the social status of individuals was also overlooked to ensure that a party gains support from all the all the people irrespective of their social status or characteristics. Decentralization of parties also fosters economic ideologies which significantly influence economic activities such as market liberation, production of goods and services. This promotes economic prosperity and redistribution of wealth with less interference from the federal authorities.
Moreover, it promotes cultural liberalism and multiculturalism which makes members from diverse ethnic groups come together. Decentralization of parties is crucial because they promote multiculturalism and defends political minorities from discrimination or exploitation by the political majorities. Again, decentralized parties create an accommodative culture whereby institutions respect cultural identities and accord each person relevant opportunities without racism and other retrogressive attitudes or practices that hinder multiculturalism. Finally, it enables individuals within a region to support the party of their choice without worrying about their cultural, historical, and contextual factors that could otherwise disqualify them from such as party.
Question 2: Chapter 12, pp 405-412: Political Party Organization
Landy writes on page 412 that political parties “once provided a means for people to…. reach out into the public realm” but that they are “less and less able to do so” today. Why is this> why does it matter (any suggestions: when answering these questions consider Landy in the description of today’s political party organization on page 384).
Landy noted that political parties in the ancient American society enabled people to “reach out into public realm” but recently they are unable to do so. This trend can be attributed to the fact that, party organizations have failed in running political offices and media is has replaced them. In the modern society, it is the media that asks citizens what they want, what they feel, or their attitude towards the government. Contrary to the previous parties, political offices were under the control of the party, and it is the party that followed up on what the people needed.
Public realm allows people to take part in the democratic process of making local and national decisions. Thus, enabling the citizens to reach the “public realm” matters most especially when making decisions of national and international importance. Citizens ought to be engaged or consulted in the decision-making process. However, today’s party hardly recognize the role of consulting the people since political leaders assume that they know all what the people want. However, this is harmful to the overall well-fare of the people and democracy. Parties ought to enable people to take part in the collective decision-making process which ensures that people’s interests are well represented.
Finally, enabling citizens to reach public realm ensures that they are conscious of what is happening in the state and their suggestions counts in the implementation of policies and laws at the federal or state government. The current political parties should embrace the organizational control and run political offices like before, allowing people to engage in open decision-making forums where they give their views and challenges some initiatives of laws.
Question 3: Chapter 13, pp 416-336: The Electoral College System
Landy is right to argue that there is not a single national presidential election but fifty states elections. This means that citizens of each state elect their senators or Congress who act as selectors during the presidential elections. Each state has just two votes (from the senators) regardless of the overall population size. The two electors are supposed to represent the interests of their people during the presidential election. Therefore, this cannot be referred to as a national election but elections from fifty states. One of the reasons, why this is so, is that the electors at times do not represent the political interests of the people they represent. At times, they can act in their own interest, at the expense of the citizens who elect them. US presidential elections would have been a single national election if the president was elected by individual citizens rather than state representatives.
The Electoral College system works in the following manner. The number of states determines the number of electors present during the presidential elections. It is highly dependent on the total number of representative members in the Congress and Senators. Each elector has one vote and the total electoral votes in the college system is 538. For a presidential candidate to win an election, he or she has to get 270 or more votes. Failure to attain the minimum threshold does not qualify a candidate to be a president even though they have the most votes.
Finally, it is mandatory to get more than 50% of the total votes. If none of the candidate has attained the absolute majority number of votes (270), a contingent election is organized by U.S House of Representatives for presidency. Even the vice president is elected using the same procedure, because they share a ballot paper with the presidential candidate. Likewise, U.S Senates elects the vice president, in case the presidential candidate does not attain the absolute number of electoral votes required to win the election.
Question 4: Chapter 13, pp. 436-451: Candidate-centered vs. Party-centered Campaign
Candidate centered campaign is focused more on the political candidate rather than the party. In this type of campaign, all the messages are focused on informing the public or voters why they should vote for candidate X but not candidate Y. In most cases, candidates influence the voters by communicating their charisma and making their personal profile or performance to appear more outstanding than their opponents. This gives the people a reason why they should vote for a specific candidate but not the others. It is like marketing ones-self in politics.
The difference between party centered and candidate centered campaigns is obvious. Unlike candidate centered campaign, party-based campaign puts more emphasis on promoting the party than self. In this case, candidates divorce campaigns from focusing on an individual but rather on a wider party framework. Such a campaign convinces the voters to choose a specific party and other vote for candidates within such party. All credit, in terms of performance and development projects, is accorded to the party but not an individual’s candidate. For instance, the campaign would focus on giving people civic education or highlight reasons why people should prefer Republican Party but not the Democratic party, or any other party.
As much as candidate-centered campaign focuses on the individual strengths and reasons that make a candidate more suitable to be elected by the people, candidates under party-centered campaigns also encourage voters to elect them because they are in specific party. The difference comes in the sense that, in candidate centered campaign, candidates request people to vote for them based on some personal attributes but in the party centered-campaign, candidates cite that should be elected since they are members of the most ideal party that would bring development and solve serious issues. Finally, candidate-centered campaign ads hardly benefit from the ‘soft money’ given for the companion purpose. However, appropriate party-centered campaign ads that focus on educating voters on crucial matters pertaining elections are eligible for soft-money. Candidates have to get money out of pocket to fund their own ads because they are too political and personal.
Question 5: Chapter 455-482: Political and Civic Participation
Landy outlines three core forms of political and civic participation. These include movements, lobbies, and voluntary association. All the three are constitutionally appropriate democratic organizations and they share several other characteristics. First, they include a wide range of informal and formal activities or behaviors through which people express their grievances. Members come together in all the three to accomplish a shared political or civic goal (Landy, 2018). In most cases, they are meant to influence the government or another agent to give into their demands. Second, all the three are organized by a ringleader who guides the members and help them make critical decisions. However, he or she has to listen to members’ suggestions regarding the issue at hand.
However, all there are different in various ways. People might think that lobbies and movements are the same, but they have some differences that make then distinct. For example, lobbies focus on influencing decisions or actions of the public official, the Congress, or another agent to have some laws passed. Lobbying mainly seeks support for a specific idea or concept from the public and the government. On the other hand, movements adopt an activist mode of operation whereby they advocate for or against issues affecting the people (Landy, 2018). Unlike lobbies which rely more on the support from the people, movements or activists are more concerned on whether the message has been received by the appropriate target audience and the proposed change has been considered. Lobbies seek support from the public and other relevant institutions to influence a decision.
Finally, voluntary associations comprise of a group of people who come together to form an organization for specific purpose. Unlike movements and lobbies which do not require formal membership, voluntary organizations require a person to register formally and adhere to the agreements or rules and regulation of the body form. Some of the common volunteer associations include professional associations, well-wishers or group, trade unions, environmental groups, learned societies, among other associations.
Question 6: Chapter 14, pp 482-490: Decline in Voluntary Associations
I think voluntary associations are declining greatly due to three main reasons: government policies, financial strain and societal changes. The government rendered some voluntary associations as ineffective because they had not met the minimum requirements. As result, such associations would not receive grants from the government and had to depend on the members’ contribution. This creates intense financial pressure compelling the associations to suspend all or most of their operations due to lack of adequate capital. Again, socio-economic distress among the people could be another cause of financial constrain since most members of voluntary associations are unable to support the organizations financially like before.
Moreover, changes in the society are also the major cause of decline on voluntary associations. The first change is that Baby Boomers, the generation that was active on voluntary associations retired and minimized community participation. Increased order people in the society have contributed to decline of voluntary associations since the older generation is ever busy and does not have time for volunteer work. Second, donor retention is another societal change that has caused a significant decline in voluntary associations. Churches and other organizations have acquired and retained a significant number of volunteers who would be contributing money that could be used to fund voluntary organizations.
Finally, changes in the political landscape are another core factor that could be the reason for causing a decline in voluntary organizations. Polarization in the society has made some people not to join voluntary associations because they are affiliated to, or most members belong to their unpopular political party. In this case, people want to join voluntary associations that align with their political interests. Similarly, people only want to join voluntary organizations that are affiliated to their religious denomination or church. Such changes in tastes and preferences can be said to cause a great decline in the membership of voluntary associations.
Question 7: Chapter 15: American Creed
I agree with Landy that American Creed is a crucial pillar in the American political culture and life because it outlines the elements that define a true American and principles that creates an ideal American society. First, the Creed demonstrates liberty because American government is for the people, by the people, and for the people. This is the foundation of the American democracy and liberalism which accord people rights to choose their leaders through a democratic process and complain or condemn some political activities that violate human rights or contravene specific provisions.
Notably, the Creed implies that political powers are derived from the consent of the ruled or governed people. This means that all leaders are elected through a democratic process where people decide who they want and who they do not. Such a milestone justifies why American does not have a tyrannical or dictatorial government but rather a democratic republic that has sovereign states. In addition, American politics are founded on freedom, justice, and humanity (Landy. 2018). Citizens have freedom of association, expression, and conscience. Citizens can always talk about what they think is not working well in the US politics or confront administrations for violating human rights among other sensitive issues. Again, Americans are free to choose their political affiliation and other identities without influence of gender, sexuality, religion, or other demographic factors.
Lastly, the final bit of the American Creed shows patriotism and obedient to the constitution and laws. This is the fundamental reason why politicians are mandated to respect the constitution and serve the people effectively. All citizens are bound to respect the constitution and laws. As a result, this makes America a more civilized country because citizens are patriotic, and they respect the constitution.
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