The History and Evolution of Political Parties in Texas - TX GOVT PDF

Preview

Summary

an essay covering the history and evolution of political parties in Texas; what the different ones are and examples of them ...

Description

POLITICAL PARTIES IN TEXAS 1

The History and Evolution of Political Parties in Texas Marisa N. Pendery Tarleton State University

POLITICAL PARTIES IN TEXAS 2 The History and Evolution of Political Parties in Texas In this essay, the history and evolution of political parties in Texas will be discussed and researched. It will examine: the definition and characteristics of what a political party is said to be, relationships of the parties, the ideologies of parties, and the current political parties. Political Parties In order to understand the topic of this essay, it is best to break down the definition of what a political party is and discuss what they are involved in. A political party can be described as “ an organized group of people with at least roughly similar political aims and opinions, that seeks to influence public policy by getting its candidates elected to public office (Ace Project).” There are two main political parties in the United States, Republicans and Democrats. The Republican Party leans their support towards, “ business, conservative positions on social issues, and concern about the size of government (Cliff Notes).” Whereas, the Democratic Party deems that our government is in control because they are able to resolve most of our nation’s problems. Political parties are a main factor that are involved in the Democratic political system, they provide a connection from the society to the government. They were created in order to assemble large groups of people so that they would have a larger impact on the government. By doing this, political parties were able to influence the government. “The basic purpose of political parties is to nominate candidates for public office and to get as many of them elected as possible (Cliff Notes).” If a political parties candidate were to be elected, then that representative would make it a purpose of theirs to fulfill the goals of their party. Each political party has a set of specific ideologies that they support in government. An ideology is a system of beliefs or values, some ideologies even are the base that decisions are made on. Texas is stated to have a conservative political culture. To be conservative can be

POLITICAL PARTIES IN TEXAS 3 described as, “A political ideology marked by the belief in a limited role for government in taxation, economic regulation, and providing social services; conservatives support traditional values and lifestyles, and are cautious in response to social change (Texas Politics Today, 20152016).” The ideology that is ranked as a minority in Texas, is considered to be liberal. The Texas Politics Today textbook describes a liberal ideology as, “the advocacy of positive government action to improve the welfare of individuals, government regulation of the economy, support for civil rights, and tolerance for social change.” There is a mixture of each party in Texas, not everyone is specific to one set of ideals. Citizens have the right to switch ideologies based on their values and beliefs. Democrats In the Democratic Party of Texas, there are 84 elected officials. They each participate in either the: State Board of Education, Texas House of Representatives, Texas Senate, Texas Legislative Leaders, and the U.S. Congress. According to the Texas Democrats they, “believe that we’re greater together than we are on our own—that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules (Texas Democrats, 2018).” Republican The Republican Party of Texas is based on conservatism, whereas Democrats are based on liberalism. The Republicans have different views based on what the issue at hand is; it is based on economics, society, and the environment. Such as for the environment, Republicans support fracking; however, they also support creating clean water policies and also clean air policies. For the economical side of beliefs, they support free markets; though, they oppose the raising of minimum wages.

POLITICAL PARTIES IN TEXAS 4 Libertarian The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the United States. However, there are no Libertarians serving as representatives in the U.S. Congress, only a few serve in state legislative seats. Libertarians believe in, ”individual liberty in personal and economic affairs, avoidance of "foreign entanglements" and military and economic intervention in other nations' affairs and free trade and migration.” They support civil liberties, minimally regulated markets, separation of church and state, less federal governmental control, and open immigration. Conclusion In conclusion, each political party has a set of ideologies that they believe in. They have their set of beliefs that they run their campaigns on in order to gain the attention of potential voters. Their popularity with registered voters makes an impact on the possibility of being elected.

POLITICAL PARTIES IN TEXAS 5 References Cliffsnotes.com. (2018). The Functions of Political Parties. [online] Available at: https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/american-government/political-parties/thefunctions-of-political-parties [Accessed 25 Jun. 2018]. Aceproject.org. (2018). Roles and Definition of Political Parties —. [online] Available at: http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/pc/pca/pca01/pca01a [Accessed 25 Jun. 2018]. Texas Democratic Party. (2018). Elected Officials | Texas Democratic Party. [online] Available at: https://www.txdemocrats.org/our-party/leaders/electeds/ [Accessed 25 Jun. 2018]. Cengagebrain.vitalsource.com. (2018). Bookshelf Online. [online] Available at: https://cengagebrain.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781305537392/cfi/34!/4/4@0:0.556 [Accessed 25 Jun. 2018]....