53 Political Parties: What are they?
In 2012, Barack Obama accepted his second nomination to lead the Democratic Party into the presidential election. During his first term, he had been attacked by pundits for his failure to convince congressional Republicans to work with him. Despite that, he was wildly popular in his own party, and voters reelected him by a comfortable margin. Just a few decades ago, then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower was criticized for failing to create a clear vision for his Republican Party, and Congress was lampooned for what was deemed a lack of real conflict over important issues. Political parties, it seems, can never get it right—they are either too polarizing or too noncommittal.
Political Parties: Questions to Consider
- Could the modern political system exist without political parties?
- What are political parties?
- Why do they form, and why has the United States typically had only two?
- Why have political parties become so highly structured?
- Why does it seem that parties today are more polarized than they have been in the past?