Political Parties: An Ideological Analysis

Improved Essays
An ideology is defined as a “systematic body of concepts especially about human life or culture” (Ideology). These beliefs influence the way individuals think, act, and view the world. Political parties such as Republicans, Democrats, or Libertarians are examples of ideology. They embody a multitude of principles concerning environment, government, economics, education, healthcare, foreign policy, and many more. According to The Theory Toolbox, “ideology is that which allows us to say that our values are ‘better,’ without any reflection on who ‘we’ might be, and without the slightest shred of evidence to back up the claim amount ‘our’ superiority” (Nealon). This perspective is evident in American political parties, and it has hindered positive

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    The political parties have changed in many ways. Some keep same names. For the most part though they change. The people often keep the same demographic, names, and principles. This means that they kept the same values in the political parties.…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Beginning with the election of 1848, America began to see the dismantlement of the long-standing two party system as it no longer met the needs of the American people. Slavery became a central issue of upcoming presidential and congressional elections alike; people were no longer voting for the party they might have previously aligned with but rather for the party and candidate that most closely shared their views on the issue of slavery. The old party system didn’t address this issue as successfully as the nation needed, as can be seen with the Whig party, a once power political group, that quickly fell apart as slavery became more and more of a national concern. As the years progressed, and the issue of slavery became more and more polarizing,…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Partisanship Polarization

    • 1478 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Sunstein and Hastie suggest that individuals become more polarized when they associate only with those who share the same political beliefs. Thus, an individual’s beliefs will intensify and they will identify as either more Republican or more Democratic dependent upon their original political identity. Sunstein and Hastie contribute the growing partisan divide on the groupthink phenomena rather than changing ideological beliefs. Thus, as the political parties become more divided along partisan lines the groupthink phenomena will continue to widen the…

    • 1478 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    With the recent election, were you unable to relate to either of the presidential candidates? Most American citizens wished that there was another candidate, capable of winning, running because both candidates were so extreme. This dilemma occurred because of the two-party system, which runs the United States. If the United States was run by a multi-party system or a system by which no parties were present then there would be a very low chance that Donald Trump would be president due to how intensely the people dislike him. With a recent poll, about 14% of America thinks that the federal government works.…

    • 2380 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    The political parties have been part of the United States government for as long as anyone can remember, but the question is: should they be? There are multiple perspectives on this, one being that political parties benefit the system, another being that political parties are the problem. As a country, it’s not often considered that we could be doing something wrong --especially in government -- but it’s time to open our minds and consider it. Long before many can actually remember, George Washington came into office and founded the very democracy that still stands today.…

    • 1359 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A political party is an organization of people which seeks to achieve goals common to its members through the acquisition and exercise of political power. In present times it’s mostly associated with the fight for votes and debates between Democrats and Republicans. Several years ago though when political parties did not exist, many were angry that they did not. Although people like George Washington fear that it would split the nation apart and weaken public support of the new constitution, . In document 4, the excerpt from “The Farewell Address”, George Washington opposed to political parties because “ It agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one party against another; foments[stirs up]…….…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Political Parties Dbq

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages

    DBQ: How Political Parties Developed Political parties are organization of people which seek to achieve goals that can help certain people in a particular region. Political parties are developed because of the expansion of the United States. With more people with new ideas and political belief, people can now state their own opinion and can give the people a chance to be heard fairly and equally. Political parties has been around since the early and mid-1700s. Being one of the first political parties of the United States were the Whigs party.…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Root canals, used-car salesmen, lice, cockroaches, and brussels sprouts; these seemingly unrelated items do have one common component: Americans view these more favorably than Congress, according to a 2013 poll. Upon hearing this, I was awestruck as to how Congress had stooped so low that only 8% of Americans approve of the lawmaking body that represents us. I quickly learned the reason why: the intense hatred that both parties in Congress have for each other and a complete unwillingness to work together. Reflecting on this, I realized, “Why would I be a member of either party and associate with those creating problems in America?” Instead, I decided to create my own political party, which would work to make America a better place by standing for compromise, fiscal responsibility, and social morality.…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Party polarization is the greater agreement on policy stand within each party and sharper policy differences between the Democrats and Republicans. Ever since the political parties in America were created, they have strived to gain power and achieve certain policy goals. Political scientist James Q. Wilson argues “that the cultural split is deep and is reflected in party competition and the public opinion of partisans within and across the red and blue states.” Wilson suggests that there are three chief factors contributing to polarization and cultural division in the United States.…

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The “Game of Elections” is known as in other words as the American electoral process or political system. There are five main players in this game and they are political parties, interest groups, media, candidates, and voters. Each of these players play a key role in the American election and how each one has a major effect on voter decision-making. (to be continued)……

    • 930 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Political parties in the United States of America has become prominent in today’s political world. They are a way to identify one’s true values and beliefs. According to The American Political System, a political party can be defined as a group of candidates and elected officials organized under a common label for the purpose of attaining positions of public authority (Kollman, 411). Many people can recall George Washington warning the U.S. of the dangers of starting political parties in congress. Washington’s theory was right.…

    • 1743 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The people may have misconceptions about who is voting Democrat or Republican which leads them to believe that ideologies vary. Another aspect to take into account is the media’s portrayal of politics. Authors of Culture War? believe that the regular citizen does not play a major role in polarization at all. However, Americans believe that polarization exists due to misinterpretation of election results, political activists, the media’s portrayal of politics, and confusion of the people’s choice.…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Parties allow people to unite behind ideas, and they allow people who identify with certain values to succeed and find a voice” said one opponent of the bill. Yet, this opposition was no match for Goldberg’s fiery media campaign. Shooting back in a television interview, he responded “The most important political loyalty is to ideas and to ones country, not to an arbitrary statement.” Perhaps the most frighting element of political parties is how they stifle innovation and creativity.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Republican and Democratic parties in the United States naturally have a number of differences, and as time has gone by the parties seem to be getting further and further away from being able to reach a common ground. Party polarization is defined as the vast and growing gap between liberals and conservatives. (Pew Research Center) There are many reasons as to why the public specifically are having trouble agreeing, such as the media’s different portrayals of same events, the social media’s ability to drive polarization, and viewpoints on the core issues becoming stronger.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Scholars in the field of American politics, for several decades, have studied and debated the causes and influences of polarization. Ideology is made up of a set of values that inform personal political attitudes. These value preferences can be aligned along a single-dimension liberal to conservative scale (Burden, Caldeira, and Groseclose 2000; Pool and Rosenthal, 2007). Along this ideological scale there has been an increasing sorting of parties to the extreme ends of the scale. Democrats have become more liberal and Republicans (GOP) have become more conservative.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays