•Based on a particular set of beliefs
•Many built on Marxist thought
–Socialist, Socialist Labor, Socialist Worker, and Communist parties
•Libertarian Party
–Emphasizes individualism
•Ideological Parties seldom win many votes
•Focus on only one public-policy matter
•Free Soil Party
–Opposed the spread of slaver in 1840-50s
•American Party (“Know Nothings”)
–Opposed Irish-Catholic immigration in
the1850s
•Right to Life Party
–Opposes abortion today
•Most die away as events have passed them by
•Rooted in periods of economic disaster
•No clear-cut ideological base
•Proclaim their disgust for the major parties
•Greenback Party, 1876-1884
•Populist Party of the 1890s
•Disappear as the nation climbs out of difficult economic periods
•Have split away from one of the major parties
•Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive Party of 1912
•Robert La Follette’s Progressive Party of 1924
•Henry Wallace’s Progressive Party, 1948
•States’ Rights Party,1948
•George Wallace’s Independent Party of 1968
•Most form around a person who failed to win the major party’s nomination
•Minor Party, Anti-Masons, first to use a national convention in 1831
•A strong third-party can play a “spoiler role” pulling votes from one of the major parties
•Take clear-cut stands on controversial issues and draw attention to issues the major parties ignore
Review Questions:
Most single-issue parties have been
a. short-lived.
b. long-lived.
c. rooted in times of economic crisis.
d. centered around a strong personality.
Over time, the ideas first developed by minor parties are often ____ by major parties.
a. ignored c. suppressed
b. borrowed d. attacked
Parties that hold a particular set of beliefs and have often supported Marxist thinking are known as
a. ideological parties. c. splinter parties.
b. single-issue parties. d. economic protest parties.
Answers: A / B / A