cohesion and discipline of the party How does weak party discipline make it difficult for federal government to enact public  this causes cohesion on an issue to falter and a party grows less and less.
{"Image DocumentName": "What Parties Do for Democracy", "Image ImageDescription": "Party Functions. Organize the Competition. Unify the Electorate. Inspire and Inform Voters. Translate Preferences into Policy. Provide Loyal Opposition. Organize Government. Help Govern. Act as Watchdogs. Nominate Candidates. Ensure Candidate Quality. Party Functions: Mobilizing support and building coalitions; Encouraging stability in the political system; Providing accountability for public policy; Running candidates for office; Providing a cue for voters; Formulating policy through a national party platform. Organize the Competition: Parties exist primarily as an organizing mechanism to win elections and thus win control of government. Unify the Electorate: Parties help unify the electorate and moderate conflict, at least within the party. Parties have a strong incentive to fight out their internal differences but come together to take on the opposition. Organize the Government: Although political parties in the United States are not as cohesive as in some other democracies, they are important when it comes to organizing our state and national governments. Congress is organized along party lines. The party that controls the White House, the governor\u2019s mansion, or city hall gets patronage, which means it can select party members as public officials or judges. Translate Preferences into Policy: American parties have had only limited success in setting the course of national policy, especially compared to countries with strong parties. The European model of party government, which has been called a responsible party system, assumes that parties discipline their members through their control over nominations and campaigns. The American system is largely candidate-centered; politicians are nominated largely on the basis of their qualifications and personal appeal, not party loyalty. Loyal Opposition: The party out of power closely monitors and comments on the actions of the party in power, providing accountability. When national security is at issue or the country is under attack, parties restrain their criticism. There is usually a polite interval following an election\u2014known as the honeymoon\u2014after which the opposition party begins to criticize the party that controls the White House, especially when the opposition controls one or both houses of Congress. The caucus played an important part in pre-Revolutionary politics and continued to be important in our early history as elected officials organized themselves into groups or parties and together selected candidates to run for higher office, including the presidency. As early as the 1820s, however, critics were making charges of secret deals. During the 1830s and 1840s, a system of party conventions was instituted to draw more voters and reduce the power of the bosses to pick party nominees. States adopted the direct primary, in which people could vote for the party\u2019s nominees for office. Today, the direct primary is the typical method of picking party candidates. In states with open primaries, any voter, regardless of party, can participate in the primary of whichever party he or she chooses. This kind of primary permits crossover voting\u2014Republicans and Independents helping to determine who the Democratic nominee will be, and vice versa. Other states use closed primaries, in which only persons already registered in that party may participate. Some states, such as Washington and California, experimented with blanket primaries, in which all voters could vote for any candidate, regardless of party. The Iowa presidential caucuses, in which a record-setting 347,000 Iowans participated in 2008 are highly publicized as the first important test of potential presidential nominees. Party Systems \u2013 Multiparty and Two Party System. Minor Parties: Persistence and Frustration.", "Image XResolution": "37", "Image YResolution": "37", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Centimeter", "Image Software": "SlidePlayer", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered"}