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==Political parties, pressure groups== ===Political parties=== {{Main|Political parties in the United States}} {{unreferenced section|find=United States|find2=political parties|date=April 2024}} [[File:Women's March on Washington (32593123745).jpg|thumb|The [[2017 Women's March]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], protested the [[2016 United States presidential election|2016 election]] of President [[Donald Trump]]]] ;Background The [[United States Constitution]] never formally addressed the issue of [[Political party|political parties]], primarily because the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]] opposed them. Nevertheless, parties—specifically, two competing parties in a "[[two-party system]]"—have been a fundamental part of American politics since shortly after George Washington's presidency. In partisan elections, candidates are nominated by a political party or seek public office as independents. Each state has significant discretion in deciding how candidates are nominated and thus eligible to appear on a given election ballot. Major party candidates are typically formally chosen in a [[Partisan primary|party primary]] or [[Party conference|convention]], whereas candidates from minor parties and Independent candidates must complete a petitioning process. The current two-party system in the United States is made up of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] and the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]. These two parties have won every [[United States presidential election]] since 1852 and have controlled the [[United States Congress]] since at least 1856. From time to time, a [[Third party (United States)|third party]], such as the [[Green Party of the United States|Green]] and [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Parties]], has achieved some minor representation at the national and state levels. Since the [[Great Depression]] and the [[New Deal]], and increasingly since the 1960s, the Democratic Party has generally positioned itself as a [[Centre-left politics|center-left]] party, while the Republican Party has generally positioned itself as [[Right-wing politics|center-right]]; there are other factions within each. ===Party organization=== <!-- This section is linked from [[Libertarian Party (United States)]] --> {{See also|Political party strength in U.S. states}} [[File:Combined--Control of the U.S. House of Representatives - Control of the U.S. Senate.png|thumb|right|400px|Control of the Senate, Presidency, and House since 1855, with blue for Democrats and red for Republicans. Any column where all three sections show the same color is a [[government trifecta]]; the other periods are [[Divided government in the United States|divided government]].]] Unlike in many other countries, the major political parties in America have no strong central organization that determines party positions and policies, rewards loyal members and officials, or expels rebels. A party committee or convention may endorse a candidate for office, but deciding who will be the party's candidate in the general election is usually done in primaries open to voters who register as Democrats or Republicans. Furthermore, elected officials who fail to "toe the party line" because of constituent opposition said line and "cross the aisle" to vote with the opposition have (relatively) little to fear from their party. Parties have state or federal committees that act as hubs for fundraising and campaigning (see [[Democratic National Committee]] and [[Republican National Committee]]) and separate campaign committees that work to elect candidates at a specific level but do not direct candidates or their campaigns. In presidential elections, the party's candidate serves as the de facto party leader, whose popularity or lack thereof helps or hinders candidates further down the ballot. Midterm elections are usually considered a referendum on the sitting president's performance.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/07/AR2006110701697.html |title=A Voter Rebuke For Bush, the War And the Right |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=2006-11-08 |quote=Bush and senior adviser Karl Rove tried to replicate that strategy this fall, hoping to keep the election from becoming a referendum on the president's leadership. |first1=Peter |last1=Baker |first2=Jim |last2=VandeHei |access-date=2010-05-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/11/04/impeachment/ |title=Election '98 Lewinsky factor never materialized |publisher=CNN |date=1998-11-04 |quote=Americans shunned the opportunity to turn Tuesday's midterm elections into a referendum on President Bill Clinton's behavior, dashing Republican hopes of gaining seats in the House and Senate.}}</ref> Some (e.g., [[Lee Drutman]] and Daniel J. Hopkins before 2018) argue that, in the 21st century, along with becoming [[Political polarization in the United States|overtly partisan]], American politics has become overly focused on national issues and "nationalized" that even local offices, formerly dealing with local matters, now often mention the presidential election.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Increasingly United States: How and Why American Political Behavior Nationalized |author= Daniel J. Hopkins|publisher=University of Chicago Press|date=2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/polyarchy/2018/5/31/17406590/local-national-political-institutions-polarization-federalism |title=America has local political institutions but nationalized politics. This is a problem |date=May 31, 2018 |access-date=September 27, 2022 |author=Lee Drutman |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927120850/https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/polyarchy/2018/5/31/17406590/local-national-political-institutions-polarization-federalism |url-status=dead }}</ref> ====Two-party system==== {{See also|Two-party system#Causes of a two-party system|l1=Causes of a two-party system}} "Third" political parties have appeared from time to time in American history but seldom lasted more than a decade. They have sometimes been the vehicle of an individual ([[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|"Bull Moose" party]], [[Ross Perot]]'s [[Reform Party of the United States of America|Reform Party]]); had considerable strength in particular regions ([[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]], the [[Farmer-Labor Party]], [[Wisconsin Progressive Party]], [[Conservative Party of New York State]],{{NoteTag|In 1970 a candidate of the [[Conservative Party of New York State]] ([[James L. Buckley]]) [[James L. Buckley#Elections|defeated]] the Democratic and Republican party candidates for U.S. Senate.}} and the [[Populist Party (United States)|Populist Party]]); or continued to run candidates for office to publicize some issue despite seldom winning even local elections ([[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]], [[Natural Law Party (United States)|Natural Law Party]], [[Peace and Freedom Party]]). Factors reinforcing the two-party system include: * The traditional American electoral format of single-member districts where the candidate with the most votes wins (known as the "[[First Past the Post electoral system|first-past-the-post]]" system), which according to [[Duverger's law]] favors the [[two-party system]]. This is in contrast to [[Multiwinner voting|multi-seat electoral districts]]{{NoteTag|not to be confused with the American systems of having two senators representing each state, since the senator's elections in each state are staggered and do not run at the same time.}} and [[proportional representation]] found in some other democracies. * The 19th-century innovation of printing "party tickets" to pass out to prospective voters to cast in ballot boxes (originally, voters went to the polls and publicly stated which candidate they supported) "consolidated the power of the major parties".<ref name="Lepore-NYer-2008"/> * Printed party "tickets" (ballots) were eventually replaced by uniform ballots provided by the state when states began to adopt the [[secret ballot|Australian Secret Ballot Method]]. This gave state legislatures—dominated by Democrats and Republicans—the opportunity to hinder new rising parties with [[ballot access]] laws requiring a large number of petition signatures from citizens and giving the petitioners a short amount of time to gather the signatures. ===Political pressure groups=== {{See also|Lobbying in the United States|Advocacy group}} [[File:K Street NW at 19th Street.jpg|thumb|[[K Street (Washington, D.C.)|K Street]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], has become a [[metonym]] for the American lobbying industry.|alt=Street sign for K Street, with tall office buildings in background]] Special-[[Advocacy group|interest groups]] advocate the cause of their specific constituency. Business organizations, for example, will favor low corporate taxes and restrictions on the right to strike, whereas labor unions will support minimum wage legislation and protection for collective bargaining. Other private interest groups, such as churches and ethnic groups, are more concerned about broader policy issues affecting their organizations or beliefs. One type of private interest group that has grown in number and influence in recent years is the [[political action committee]] or PAC. These are independent groups organized around a [[single issue]] or set of issues, which contribute money to political campaigns for [[United States Congress]] or the presidency. PACs are limited in the amounts they can contribute directly to candidates in federal elections. There are no restrictions on the amounts PACs can spend independently to advocate a point of view or to urge the election of candidates to office. As of 2008, 4,292 PACs were operating in the U.S..<ref>{{Cite web |title=Number of Federal PACs Increases |url=https://www.fec.gov/updates/number-of-federal-pacs-increases-2/ |access-date=2022-03-11 |publisher=FEC |language=en}}</ref> <blockquote>The number of interest groups has mushroomed, with more and more of them operating offices in Washington, D.C., and representing themselves directly to Congress and federal agencies. Many organizations that keep an eye on Washington seek financial and moral support from ordinary citizens. Since many of them focus on a narrow set of concerns or even on a single issue, and often a single issue of enormous emotional weight, they compete with the parties for citizens' dollars, time, and passion.<ref>[[Michael Schudson]] in his 1998 book ''The Good Citizen: A History of American Civic Life''. </ref></blockquote> The amount of money these special interest groups spend continues to grow as campaigns become increasingly expensive. Many Americans feel that these wealthy interests, whether [[Corporate personhood|corporations]], [[Labor unions in the United States|unions]], or PACs, are so powerful that ordinary citizens can do little to counteract their influences.{{cn|date=November 2024}} A survey of members of the [[American Economic Association]] (i.e., the Association of Professional Economists) found the vast majority—regardless of political affiliation—felt the prevalence and influence of special interest groups in the political process led to benefits for the special interest groups and politicians at the expense of society as a whole.<ref>Davis, William L., and Bob Figgins. 2009. Do Economists Believe American Democracy Is Working? ''[[Econ Journal Watch]]'' 6(2): 195-202. [http://econjwatch.org/articles/do-economists-believe-american-democracy-is-working Econjwatch.org]</ref> ==== Religious groups ==== {{See also|Religion and politics in the United States|Religion in the United States|Christianity in the United States|Freedom of religion in the United States|Religious discrimination in the United States}} Despite the First Amendment of the constitution's [[Establishment Clause]] ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion ..."), for historical and demographic reasons, religious groups (primarily [[Christianity|Christian]] groups) have frequently become political pressure groups and they have also become parts of [[Political alliance|political coalitions]].<ref name=":12" /> In recent decades, conservative [[Evangelicalism|evangelicals]] have been particularly active within the broader [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]].<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last1=BERNSTEIN|first1=ELIZABETH|last2=JAKOBSEN|first2=JANET R |date=2010 |title=Sex, Secularism and Religious Influence in US Politics |journal=Third World Quarterly |volume=31 |issue=6 |pages=1023–1039 |doi=10.1080/01436597.2010.502739 |jstor=27896595 |pmid=20857575 |s2cid=39112453 |issn=0143-6597}}</ref> This influence has often translated into the passing of laws related to morality and personal conduct.<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal|last=Fairbanks|first=David|date=1977|title=Religious Forces and "Morality" Policies in the American States |journal=The Western Political Quarterly|volume=30|issue=3|pages=411–417|doi=10.2307/447941|jstor=447941|issn=0043-4078}}</ref> State [[Blue laws in the United States|alcohol and gambling laws]], for example, are more restrictive in states with a higher percentage of [[Conservative Christianity|conservative Christians]].<ref name=":13" />
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