292 Chapter 8Chapter 8 || Political PartiesPolitical PartiesUnpacking the Conflict
Considering all that we’ve discussed in this chapter, let’s apply what we know about
how political parties work to the examples of party dysfunction from the beginning of
this chapter. If political parties are so important and powerful, why do they often fail at
the very things they are supposed to do? Why do Americans dislike the parties they are
so strongly attached to?
America’s political system gives enormous opportunities to political parties.
Parties can shape election outcomes by formulating campaign platforms, encouraging
good candidates to run for office, and mobilizing supporters. After the election, the
winners can work inside Congress to build coalitions behind policy proposals and use
procedural powers to help enact these proposals—and to work against similar efforts
by their opponents in the other party.
However, the fact that these opportunities exist does not ensure that political
parties will be able to follow through on them. As we have seen, American political
parties are often beset by internal conflicts over who should run for office and what
their campaign platforms should look like. The party organization has little control over
the party in government (or vice versa). And neither group can order party members
in the electorate to work for the party, support its candidates, or do anything they don’t
want to do.
As a result of these organizational features, there is no guarantee that officeholders
and election winners of the same party affiliation will have the same policy priorities or
be able to compromise over their differences. This has been true even in recent years,
when differences between Republicans and Democrats have been as large as ever.
In this sense, the Republicans’ failure to capitalize on their capture of both Congress
and the presidency in 2016 is not surprising at all. Democrats will likely have similar
problems if they win the presidency and gain congressional majorities in a future
election. At the same time, while Americans may not approve of these outcomes, they
show no signs of totally abandoning the Republicans or the Democrats in favor of new
party organizations.What’s
Your
Take?
Are American political
parties too dysfunctional
to be useful?Or do the benefits they
provide outweigh their
drawbacks?Full_09_APT_64431_ch08_262-295.indd 292 16/11/18 1:41 PM