GOVT 111 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Proportional Representation, Dealignment, Tea Party Movement
Document Summary
Usually a negative viewpoint towards the term political party . Founding fathers didn"t exactly support the idea of political parties. Political parties are an inevitable consequence of governing in a democracy and a fact of political life in america that nobody can ignore. Parties actually matter in the governing of our country, though may disagree. Western european democracies: parties tend to be highly centralized, stable, and tightly knit coalitions of men and women with commonly held opinions and beliefs: parties take clear-cut, sometimes extreme, ideological positions. In european countries with a multi-party system, socialist or liberal parties are on the left of the spectrum and ideologically conservative parties are on the right side of the spectrum. Some minor parties (libertarian, conservative, socialist workers) are strongly ideological. The tea party movement (a loose coalition of political organizations) has supported economic and social conservative issues, which attracted both local and national attention.