Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
Political Parties Purpose	USstudent244	09/02/03
Hello there... I have a question regarding political parties. What is the place of a political party in the United States system of government? or should I ask what is thier purpose? What do they do?
Answered By		Answered On
stevehaddock		09/02/03
I agree with my learned friend elgin, but wanted to add a couple of things. Essentially, parties exist in order to keep persons with similar political interests from interfering with each other's chances of getting elected. Take a look at the California recall election for a great practical example - if Bustamante were the only Democrat running, he would be a shoe-in. If Arnie were the only Republican, he would win in a landslide too. However, since both candidates are running against candidates with similar interests, this election is a toss up. One of the reasons Bustamante is still in the race at all is that all other "credible" Democrats aren't running. Arnie's chief rival isn't Bustamante, it's all the conservative Republicans running against him - they are indeed his worst critics about moral issues (they probably are just jealous ;-) Parties, which aren't outlined in the U.S. constitution, and for the most part didn't exist in early British parliaments, developed for the primary reason that splitting the popular vote over a number of candidates with similar interests diluted those votes. A party system allows interests to concentrate their political clout.

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