POLS 0010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Party System, Protestantism, Proportional Representation
26 Jul 2016
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Why has the two party system endured: most voters are independent. Independents have much more trouble becoming president than they do becoming senator and rep. The smaller the unit, the easier it is the win. So diverse became a dichotomist country as a result. We disagreed on everything so much we had to come up with just yes/no things parties gave the answers to what we couldn"t solve. Parties start to gel in the 1820"s: northerners and southerners start to turn into coalitions, democrats vs the whigs 1828 politicians decide that parties among the masses will win elections. Republicans consolidated in 1850"s: whigs, free soilers, etc have to be part of republicans to be on the ballot, parties who win elections want to keep winning elections political structure encourages this. Starting of parties: state parties in state legislatures decide who the presidential nominee tying state legislatures to a political party.
