Reading p.1
Name:
One Big Party?
It’s a Party...
...but not the kind with ice cream and cake. A political party is an
organized group of people who share similar political views and
work to influence the government in support of those views.
Political views
are a person’s ideas about how the government
should run and how the issues facing our country should be solved.
Political parties fight to gain political power by having candidates
elected to office. They exist at every level of government, from the
national level to your very own neighborhood. By organizing into
political parties, people have more power to influence government
than if they acted alone.
The Party Platform
One thing political parties have in common is that they stand for something. If
you want to know what a party believes, read its platform—the set of
statements describing the party’s views on all the major issues facing the
nation. This set of statements is called a “platform” because it is the set of
beliefs the political party stands on.
In the U.S., the two major political parties are Democrats and Republicans.
They keep their platforms broad and simple to attract as many supporters as
possible. At first, it can be hard to tell the difference on some issues. Both
parties might say they want better education or more jobs, but what does that
mean? The party’s platform explains what that party thinks “better” education
looks like and how the jobs should be created. You can find a political party’s
platform by going to the party’s website.
How Many Parties Are There?
That depends on the country you live in. Some countries have no
political parties at all. Most of these countries, such as Qatar
and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, are not democracies, and
citizens have limited influence on the government.
A few countries, such as China, Vietnam, and North Korea, have a
single-party system with one major political party. These
countries are under very strict rule that gives citizens little or no
say in government. They are not democracies, and it is usually
illegal to oppose the main political party.
The United States and some other countries have a two-party
system with two major political parties that hold all the power.
Other parties exist, and they sometimes gain enough support to
win an election, but this is rare. This is the least common system
around the world.
Most countries have multi-party systems where three or more
political parties share power. Some parties may have more
influence than others, but there are always more than two parties
with members elected to government office. Most European
countries, and many others countries around the world such as
Mexico, Australia, and Japan, have multi-party systems.
COUNTRY # PARTIES IN
OFFICE
Australia 7
Denmark 11
Germany 5
Guatemala 11
Kuwait 0
Israel 12
Turkey 4
United States 2
Vietnam 1
Source: CIA World Factbook 2011
Democratic
Party
Republican
Party
