American Political Parties, Part II

In my previous post, I noted that American political parties may be divided into three segments:  party organization, party-in-the-government, and party-in-the-electorate.

I wrote that the party organization consists of the unsung volunteers (hacks?) who do the precinct work, register voters, and volunteer time, energy, and money to keep the parties operating.

Party-in-the-government consists of the men and women who hold elective positions.  In Pennsylvania this would include the “row officers” at the county level, the elected executive positions at the state level, and the state legislators.  At the federal level it would include the members of Congress. 

I said I would explain why Clinton supporters had a right to be irritated at Bernie Sanders.  While he was in the Senate and caucused with the Democrats, Sanders never joined the party.  Imagine a “newbie” who suddenly announces, after years of disdain for the party label, “Hey, I’ve decided to run for the presidency in your party.”  

While I personally don’t have too much of a problem with that, and even contributed funds to the Sanders campaign, I can understand how the Sanders move might rankle Democrats in the U.S. Senate,  This helps to explain why so few Senators and Representatives supported Sanders.

This is also a good place to point out the inherent conflict between the party organizations and the party-in-the-government.  Legislators represent not only members of their own party, but independents and other party members as well.  If you are a Democrat representing a rural area, you better be in favor of guns.  

On the other hand, party organization members tend to be more liberal (if Dems) or more conservative (if Reps) than their legislators.  Activists get angry when “their” legislators take centrist positions, forgetting that most voters tend to cluster around the middle.

Tomorrow I will look at those voters, the “party-in-the-electorate.”  I’ll explain why “open primaries” that permit independents or even other party members to vote in a party’s primary make no sense.  I’ll also discuss why the electorate often votes against what would seem to be its best interest.