W. W. Norton & Company | We the People, 6th Edition

Chapter 9: Political Parties

Have you chosen a political party? If so, how has your parents’ party identification affected your choice of party? Is there a strong relationship between their party choices and your own? According to your religious affiliation, race, gender, residence, and social class, which party would you be expected to belong to? If you were to leave the party of your parents, would you go to the opposite party or become an independent? Why?

Should politicians be held to higher standards than “normal” people? Have you ever criticized a politician for doing something that you have done yourself? Do you hold politicians to a higher standard than you hold yourself? Is that okay?

Today many politicians are hiring private investigators to check out their opponents’ credit reports, medical records, high school and college grades, neighbors where they grew up—in short, anything seems to be fair game. One politician was criticized for his wife’s failure to renew a dog license on time! Does this sort of scrutiny drive off many good potential candidates? If so, what can be done about this gross invasion of privacy? Or is this just the price one pays for seeking public office today? Do we really need to know so much about a candidate and his or her family?

In the past, critics frequently charged that there were very few differences between the two major parties. Is that true today? What do you think the Republicans stood for in the 2004 presidential election? The Democrats? Social critic Jim Wallis claims that both parties have become “morally vacuous.” He charges that the Democrats are obsessed with “radical individualism,” while the Republicans are absorbed with materialism. Would you agree?

Can democracy be sustained when so few people are involved in the political system? Voter turnouts at local elections sometimes run less than 10 percent, yet local governments are the ones that affect people closely on a daily basis. Why don’t more people vote?

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