Objective 2(26b): Describe the organization and functions of

American Political parties at the local, state, and national level.

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

The Democratic Party

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary

political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in

the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world.

•The Democratic Party has several organizations within its party. There’s the:

DGA: The Democratic Governors’ Association

The DGA provides political and strategic assistance to gubernatorial campaigns

The DGA plays an integral role in developing positions on key state and

federal issues that affect the states through the governors’ policy forum

series.DSCC: the Democratic Senatorial

Campaign Committee purpose is to elect more Democrats to the United

States Senate.

The DSCC’s Job is to organize candidate’s recruitment to providing campaign funds

for tight races.DCCC: The Democratic Congressional

Campaign Committee serves as the official national Democratic campaign committee

charged with recruiting, assisting, funding, and electing Democrats to the U.

S. House of Representatives.

They provide services ranging from designing and helping execute field

operations, to polling, creating radio and television commercials, fundraising, communications, and management

consultingDLCC: The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee provides strategic services and financial assistance to Democratic leaders

and candidates at the state legislative level.

They provide services ranging from designing and helping execute field

operations, to polling, creating radio and television commercials, fundraising, communications, and management

consultingDLCC: The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee provides strategic services and financial assistance to Democratic leaders

and candidates at the state legislative level.

AC: The Accreditations Committee is there to review requests by forming sate parties and

caucuses for accreditation by the GPUS.Members and state parties or caucuses, or

between state parties or caucuses which are not alleged to involve the GPUS' accreditation

requirements are handled by the Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC).

BRPP) Bylaws, Rules, Policies & Procedures (CCC): The Coordinated Campaign Committee is a standing committee of the USGP that cooperates

with state and local chapters in the support of federal, state, and local Green Party electoral

campaigns.The CCC provides material support to campaigns

when possible.Help train chapters in running successful

campaigns (from finding the right candidate to getting people.

Keep various campaigns in communication with each other, so that resources and wisdom can be. PCSC: The Presidential Campaign Support in the

coordination of communication with Green Presidential.

It will coordinate between accredited state parties and caucuses, national committees, GPUS

and the nominee to ensure that there is both good communication and working relationship

between party and candidate.

THE REFORM PARTY

The Reform Party

The Reform Party of the United States of America is a political party in the

United States, founded by Ross Perot in 1995 who said Americans were

disillusioned with the state of politics.

The Reform Party platform includes the following:Maintaining a balanced budget, ensured by passing a Balanced Budget Amendment and

changing budgeting practices, and paying down the federal debt.

Campaign finance reform, including strict limits on campaign contributions and the outlawing of the

Political action committeeEnforcement of existing immigration laws

•Opposition to free trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement and CAFTA, and a call for withdrawal from

the World Trade Organization.

Term limits on U.S. Representatives and Senators.

Direct election of the United States President by popular vote.

THE LIBERTARIAN

The Libertarian Party The Libertarian Party is a

United States political party founded on December 11, 1971. More than 200,000 voters are registered with the party, making it one of

the largest of America's alternative political parties. Hundreds of Libertarian candidates

have been elected or appointed to public office, and thousands have run for office under the Libertarian banner, Also known as the third

biggest party.

The Libertarian party’s Platform is:

Adoption of laissez-faire principles which would reduce the state's role in economic government. This

would include, among other things, markedly reduced taxation, privatization of Social Security and

welfare (for individuals, as well as elimination of "corporate welfare"), markedly reduced regulation of

business, rollbacks of labor regulations, and reduction of government interference in

foreign trade.

Protection of property rights. Minimal government bureaucracy. The

Libertarian Party states that the government's responsibilities should be limited to the protection of individual rights from the

initiation of force and fraud. Civil libertarianism: Support for the protection of civil liberties, including the right to privacy, freedom of

speech, freedom of association, and sexual freedom.

Opposition to civil rights laws that regulate the private sector, such as

affirmative action and non-discrimination laws.

Support for the unrestricted right to the means of self-defense (such as gun rights, the right to carry mace or pepper spray,

etc). Opposition to the censoring and the

engineering of foreign radio pathways.

Abolition of laws against "victimless crimes" (such as prostitution, driving without a seatbelt, use of controlled

substances, fraternization, etc.). Opposition to regulations on how businesses should run themselves

(e.g., smoking bans) A foreign policy of free trade and non-

interventionism.

The Republican Party The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in

the United States, along with the Democratic Party. It is often called the

Grand Old Party or the GOP. Founded in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854 by anti-slavery expansion activists and modernizers, the Republican Party quickly surpassed the

Whig Party as the principal opposition to the Democratic Party.

It first came to power in 1860 with the election of Abraham Lincoln to the

presidency and presided over the American Civil War and

Reconstruction. Today, the party supports a conservative and/or

center-right platform, with further foundations in supply-side fiscal policies and social conservatism.

The Republican Party is currently the second largest party with 55 million

registered voters as of 2004, encompassing roughly one-third of the electorate. There have been nineteen

Republican Presidents. Republicans currently fill a minority of seats in both

the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, hold a minority of state governorships, and control a minority of

state legislatures.

The communist Party The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is a Marxist-Leninist

political party in the United States.For first half of the 20th century the

communist party it was the largest and most widely influential communist party in the country, and played a prominent

role in the U.S. labor movement from the 1920s through the 1940s

, founding most of the country's major industrial unions (which would later implement the Smith Act)

and pursuing intense anti-racist activity in workplaces and city communities throughout this

first part of its existence. Simultaneously the CPUSA survived the Palmer Raids, the first Red Scare, and

many similar attempts at suppression of communist activity by the Government of the United States

through the end of World War II. By August 1919, only months after its founding, the CPUSA had

60,000 members, including anarchists and other radical leftists, while the more moderate Socialist

Party of America had only 40,000.

The Socialist Party Years active 1901 – 1973

The Socialist Party of America (SPA or SP) was a democratic socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social

Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor

Party which had split from the main organization in 1899.

In the first decades of the 20th Century, it drew significant support from many

different groups, including trade unionists, progressive social reformers,

populist farmers, and immigrant communities. Its presidential candidate, Eugene V. Debs, won over 900,000 votes

in 1912 and 1920, while the party also elected two Congressmen and numerous

state legislators and mayors

The party's staunch opposition to American involvement in World War I,

although welcomed by many, also led to prominent defections, official repression

and vigilante persecution. The organization was further shattered by a

factional war over how it should respond to Russia's Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and the establishment of the Communist

International in 1919.

The Socialist Party’s Platform:Bill of Rights

The Socialist Party is committed to the rights of free speech, free press, free assembly, and personal privacy, and

the freedom of religious choice through the separation of church and

state. Economics:

Economics: The Socialist Party stands for a

fundamental transformation of the economy, focusing on production for need not profit. So-called fair trade is

meaningless as long as the world economy is dominated by a few

massive corporations

Environment: We call for public ownership and democratic

control of all our natural resources in order to conserve resources, preserve our wilderness

areas, and restore environmental quality.

2. The U.S. must immediately return to participation in international agreements, such

as the Kyoto Protocol, limiting carbon emissions, and accept a major role in

worldwide efforts to control global warming.