New Party Politics From Jefferson and Hamilton to the Information Age

by White, John Kenneth; Shea, Daniel M.

• ISBN13: 9780312152543
• ISBN10: 031215254X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-04-07
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

The authors of this fresh new text on American political parties employ an engaging writing style, a strong historical foundation, and a new analogy for understanding party systems to produce a compelling textbook. White and Shea trace the evolution of parties from the late 18th century through the Information Age, examining the impact of new information technologies throughout the text.

Author Biography

John Kenneth White (Ph.D., University of Connecticut, 1980) is professor of politics at the Catholic University of America Daniel M. Shea (Ph.D., State University of New York at Albany, 1993) is associate professor of political science at Allegheny College

Table of Contents

Preface	v
About the Authors	xvii
Introduction: Rethinking Political Parties in the Information Age	1	(10)
Notes	11	(2)
Political Parties in an American Setting	13	(20)
Political Parties: Institutions Americans Love to Hate	14	(4)
Praise from the Ivory Tower	16	(1)
Politics without Parties	16	(1)
The Parties Speak: Gejdenson versus White on the Importance of Political Parties	17	(1)
Three Important Party Distinctions	18	(9)
How Parties Differ from Other Organizations	18	(1)
The Components of American Political Parties	19	(2)
Does the Tripod Work in the Information Age?	21	(2)
What Do Political Parties Seek to Accomplish?	23	(4)
The Battle of the Titans: Hamilton Versus Jefferson	27	(3)
Like God, Parties are Not Dead	30	(1)
Further Reading	30	(1)
Notes	31	(2)
The Ascendance of Party Politics	33	(22)
The Pre-Party Era	33	(1)
The Colonial Experience	34	(3)
Nascent Parties: Federalists Versus Republicans	37	(3)
Party Rule: 1824--1912	40	(12)
Breakdown and Renewal: The Election of 1824	41	(1)
The Jackson-Van Buren Alliance	42	(2)
The Rise of Mass-Based Politics and the Emergence of the Spoils System	44	(1)
The Interregnum: Parties and the Civil War	45	(3)
The Coming of the Machine	48	(1)
The Parties Speak: A Day in the Life of Party Boss George Washington Plunkitt	49	(2)
The Parties Speak: Lyndon B.Johnson and Richard J.Daley on Patronge	51	(1)
Parties ``American Style''	52	(1)
Further Reading	53	(1)
Notes	53	(2)
The Decline of Party Politics	55	(29)
``Clean It Up!'': The Progressive Movement	56	(14)
Enter the Progressives	57	(4)
The Parties Speak: Robert M.LaFollette, ``The Menace of the Machine'' (1897)	61	(4)
Why the Progressive Movement Was Successful	65	(3)
An End to Party Politics?	68	(2)
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal	70	(2)
The New Deal and Party Politics?	71	(1)
Political Parties and the Cold War	72	(2)
The Rise of Interest Groups	74	(2)
The Interest Group Explosion	74	(2)
The Rise of Candidate-Centered Politics	76	(5)
Party Activist versus Professional Consultant	76	(1)
Party Member versus Nonpartisan Candidate	77	(1)
The Parties Speak: Ed Rollins and the ``Campaign from Hell''	78	(1)
Party Affiliation versus Voting Choice	79	(1)
The Parties Speak: Louis LaPolla, ``The Pothole Mayor,'' A Case Study in Ambition	80	(1)
A Partyless Age?	81	(1)
Further Reading	82	(1)
Notes	82	(2)
Party Organizations in the Twenty-First Century	84	(24)
Organizational Adjustment and Growth	86	(7)
The Rebirth of the Republican National Committee	87	(2)
The Democratic National Committee Plays Catch-Up	89	(1)
New Technologies in the Information Age	89	(1)
Summary	90	(3)
The Emergence of Legislative Campaign Committees	93	(6)
The Hill Committees	93	(3)
The Parties Speak: Congressman David Price on the Role of Party in Campaigns	96	(1)
State Legislative Campaign Committees	97	(1)
The Parties Speak: Party Leaders Voice Concerns about Legislative Campaign Committees	98	(1)
Wither the Local Parties?	99	(4)
Evidence of Local Party Renewal	99	(3)
Evidence of Local Party Decline	102	(1)
Revitalists Versus Declinists	103	(2)
Conclusion	105	(1)
Further Reading	105	(1)
Notes	106	(2)
Nominating Presidents in the Information Age	108	(32)
What Kind of President?	108	(8)
From John Adams to Bill Clinton: The Problem of Presidential Selection	113	(1)
The Parties Speak: Alexander Hamilton on Choosing an American President	114	(2)
Hamilton's Family Versus Jefferson's Community	116	(4)
The Rise of Nominating Conventions	117	(3)
The Rise of Hamiltonian Nationalism	120	(15)
The McGovern-Fraser Commission	121	(1)
The Parties Speak: The New Republic's Reflections on the Assassination of Robert F.Kennedy and the Democratic Party of 1968	122	(6)
Are Primaries and Caucuses Representative?	128	(2)
Republicans Follow the McGovern-Fraser Lead	130	(2)
The Unintended Consequences of the McGovern-Fraser Reforms	132	(1)
The Mikulski and Winograd Commissions	133	(1)
Enter the Superdelegates	134	(1)
Looking to 2000	135	(2)
Further Reading	137	(1)
Notes	137	(3)
Party Brand Loyalty and the American Voter	140	(34)
The Importance of Party Identification	142	(5)
Measuring Party Identification	145	(2)
Is Party Identification Obsolete?	147	(1)
The Making of an Idea: Party Realignment	147	(10)
V. O. Key and Party Realignment	148	(1)
The Parties Speak: V. O. Key and the Theory of Party Realignment	149	(3)
Party Realignment: The Death of a Concept?	152	(2)
The Parties Speak: Everett C. Ladd, Like Waiting for Godot, the Uselessness of Party Realignment	154	(3)
Where are the Voters Going?	157	(3)
The End of the New Deal Coalition	157	(1)
Here Come the Ticket-Splitters	157	(3)
Party Coalitions in the Clinton Era	160	(9)
The Gender Gap	163	(3)
Divided Government	166	(3)
What's Left for Parties?	169	(1)
Further Reading	170	(1)
Notes	171	(3)
State and Local Parties: Mom-and-Pop Shops in the Information Age	174	(34)
State and Local Parties in the Information Age	175	(9)
Regulating State Parties	176	(1)
Party Structure	177	(3)
A Network of Allied Party Groups	180	(2)
The Parties Speak: David Rehr on the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the GOP	182	(2)
Who Belongs?	184	(8)
Primary Voters	184	(5)
Officials in the Party Organization	189	(2)
Activists	191	(1)
Summary	192	(1)
Local Political Culture	192	(3)
The Parties Speak: The ``Amateur Democrats''	194	(1)
What State and Local Parties Do	195	(6)
Manifest Party Functions	195	(2)
Nassau County Republicans: A Machine That Keeps on Ticking	197	(1)
The Kings County Republican Committee: Fighting the Nonpartisan Tide	198	(1)
The Loudoun County Democrats: An Information Age Revival Story	199	(1)
Dare County Democratic Committee: Hoping for a Policy Makeover	200	(1)
Summary	200	(1)
State and Local Parties, Computers, and the Internet	201	(2)
Desktop Tools	201	(1)
State Parties on the Net	201	(2)
Computers to the Rescue?	203	(1)
Appendix A: Republican State Committee Web Sites as of 1998	204	(1)
Appendix B: Democratic State Committee Web Sites as of 1998	205	(1)
Further Reading	206	(1)
Notes	206	(2)
Campaign Finance and Information Age Political Parties	208	(29)
A Brief Look at Money in Elections	210	(4)
Money as a Supplement to Party Activities (1790s to 1880s)	210	(1)
The Rise of Corporate Politics (1880s to 1950s)	211	(2)
Media-Centered Elections (1960s to the Present)	213	(1)
Efforts to Regulate the Flow of Money in Elections	214	(8)
Meaningful Reform: Watergate and Federal Reforms	216	(2)
A Challenge in the Courts: Buckley v. Valeo	218	(2)
The Rise of PACs	220	(2)
Creative Party Finances in the Information Age	222	(11)
Issue Advocacy	223	(1)
The Parties Speak: Ten Myths about Money in Politics	224	(3)
Independent Expenditures	227	(2)
Hard and Soft Money	229	(2)
Transfers to State Party Committees	231	(1)
Bundling	232	(1)
Funding Nominating Conventions	233	(1)
The Future of Party Finance in America	233	(2)
Further Reading	235	(1)
Notes	235	(2)
Elected Officials: The Reluctant Sales Force of the Party System	237	(27)
The Parties Speak: The 1994 House Republicans' Contract with American	238	(2)
The President as Party Leader	240	(1)
The Party in Congress	241	(6)
The Parties Speak: Toward a More Responsible Two-Party System	245	(2)
The Contract With America	247	(5)
The Parties Speak: The House Judiciary Committee on the Question of Impeachment	252	(1)
The Rise of the Public Speakership	252	(3)
Hamilton's Congress?	255	(6)
Further Reading	261	(1)
Notes	261	(3)
Third Parties and the Information Age: The Orphans of American Politics	264	(38)
The Third-Party Paradox	265	(15)
Institutional Barriers	267	(6)
American Political Culture	273	(3)
The Momentum of History	276	(2)
The Parties Speak: Benjamin C.Bubar, 1976 and 1980 Prohibition Party Presidential Nominee	278	(2)
Significant Third Parties in American History	280	(11)
The Anti-Mason Party	281	(1)
The Free-Soil Party	281	(1)
The American (Know-Nothing) Party	282	(1)
The Greenback and Populists (People's) Parties	283	(2)
The Progressives: 1912--1924	285	(1)
The Parties Speak: William Jennings Bryan's ``Cross of Gold'' Speech Presented to the Democratic National Convention, Chicago, Illinois, July 8, 1896	286	(1)
Henry Wallace and the Progressive Party of 1948	287	(2)
State's Rights Party (1948) and the American Independent Party (1968)	289	(1)
The Reform Party	290	(1)
Third Parties in the Information Age	291	(5)
An Explosion of Minor Parties	291	(2)
Changes in Voter Attitudes Toward Minor Parties	293	(1)
Minor Parties and the Internet	294	(2)
Jefferson, Hamilton, and the Future of Third Parties in America	296	(3)
The Parties Speak: Ventura Win Marks Dawn of New Era: Age of Digital Politics	297	(2)
Further Reading	299	(1)
Notes	300	(2)
Conclusion: Hamilton's Triumph and the Advent of the ``Base-Less'' Party System	302	(12)
The 1998 Election and the ``Base-Less'' Party System	307	(5)
Party Politics in the Next Millennium	312	(2)
Voter Trends	312	(1)
Organizational Developments	312	(1)
Legislative Politics	313	(1)
New Laws	313	(1)
Minor Parties	314	(1)
Notes	314	(5)
Index	319