A.P. U.S. Government and Politics

Assignment #17: February 4, 2008

1. Read: Read chapter 12 on political parties. Outline the chapter. (Due February 11).

Locate and take the quiz on-line—send me your results. They will be recorded as a quiz grade.

Answer the following questions and define the terms on a separate piece of paper; your responses should be thorough and analytical. The questions should be answered in complete paragraphs—they should begin with clear topic sentences. (Due February 11).

1. What is a political party?

2. Outline the evolution of the American party system over time. Include a discussion of third parties, Issue-oriented politics, and candidate-centered politics.

3. What are the functions that parties perform in the American political system? How well do they fulfill them?

4. Evaluate the arguments for and against third parties.

5. Trace the various levels of party organization and discuss their respective roles in the process. Discuss the changing patterns of political activism within parties.

6. Explain ways the parties participate in the process of government from within the institutions—legislative, judicial, and executive.

7. Discuss factors that influence people’s party affiliations.

8. What evidence points to the strength of partisan politics in the future? Explain.

9. Explain the contrasting points in the Democratic and Republican platforms.

10. Identify elements of the Democratic platform in Clinton’s and Obama’s rhetoric this week.

11. Identify elements of Republicanism in the rhetoric of two of the candidates.

Terms:

1. Civil service laws

2. Coalition

3. Critical election

4. Dealignment

5. Direct primary

6. Governmental party

7. Hard money

8. Machine

9. National convention

10. National party platform

11. Organizational party

12. Party identification

13. Party in the electorate

14. Party realignment

15. Proportional representation

16. Secular realignment

17. Soft money

18. Think tank

19. Ticket-split

20. Winner-take-all system

2. Current Events: Once again, read the news—be prepared to take a quiz next week on events of significance in the news. Be sure you are familiar with what is going on in the primary elections, the war in Iraq, the economy, etc.