1. Political Parties Chapter 5

2. American Politics • In America we have what is called a two-party system • Only the Republicans or Democrats have a reasonable chance of winning in any given election • Some third parties come but they never have much support to last very long

3. Compared to other government systems • One party systems sometimes found in other countries like Soviet Union under Stalin or Germany’s Hitler in WWI. • Multi-party systems also exist today in places like Europe. In those systems several major and many lesser parties seriously compete for and win public offices • Examples includes Italy and present day Germany as well as many other European dmeocracies

4. Political parties • Group of people who seek to control government through the winning of elections and holding public office • Two major parties in American Politics • Democrats • Republicans

5. Thomas Nast • A Famous cartoonist is credited with popularizing the party symbols • Look at page 127 in your book. • He drew the elephant to represent the Republican party • He also drew the donkey to represent the Democratic party • These still are the party symbols today!!

6. Four types of minor parties exist today! • Ideological- based on a particular set of beliefs socially, economically, and politically • Single issue-focus on only one public policy matter • Economic protest-parties that arise during periods of economic discontent • Splinter parties-those parties that split away from the major parties