Elections

Political parties play an important role in elections

Political parties are loosely formed around the following broad political ideologies. Of the two major political parties, for example, Republicans are generally seen as conservative or to the right of the political spectrum because they advocate a reduction in government. Democrats are generally seen as liberal or to the left of the political sectrum because they support government regulation of the economy. Within parties, there are people who hold a variety of opinions on social and economic issues that fall along the spectrum of political ideologies, such as moderate Democrats, liberal Democrats, conservative Republicans, and moderate Republicans.

These labels have had different meanings, depending on when and where they were used. In Britain, during the 19th century, the term liberal referred to people who opposed government interference in the economy. This definition now refers to conservatives.

The term right refers to people who hold traditional values. Left is used to describe people who support change in society. These terms originated from the French National Assembly during the French Revolution. All those who supported the monarchy went to the right of the speaker, while those who supported the revolutionaries moved to the left.

The terms republican and democrat have different meanings when written lowercase. A person who supports a republican form of government wants elected leaders rather than a monarch. And a democrat supports a democratic form of government, or a government where the people rule through elected representatives. The Republican and Democratic political parties have evolved over the years. The early political party of Thomas Jefferson was called the Democratic-Republicans, and they were the liberals of their day. That party developed into the Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson, which championed the rights of the common person. The Republican Party was formed to fight the spread of slavery during the 1850s, and their views were seen as quite liberal, if not radical, during the time of Abraham Lincoln. The modern Republican Party, with its conservative reverence for big business, emerged during the economic boom of the 1920s under the presidential administrations of Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.

There are two key factors in determining a person’s political ideology:

How much change in government the person is willing to allow, and how quickly he or she believes that change should take place.
How much government interference in the lives of citizens should take place, especially in the area of the economy.

Radical: Seen as being on the far left of the political spectrum, radicals call for wide-sweeping rapid change in the basic structure of the political, social, or economic system. They may be willing to resort to extreme methods to bring about change, including the use of violence and revolution.
Liberal: Liberals believe that the government should be actively involved in the promotion of social welfare of a nation’s citizens. Liberals usually call for peaceful, gradual change within the existing political system. They reject violent revolution as a way of changing the way things are, often called the status quo.
Moderate: Moderates may share viewpoints with both liberals and conservatives. They are seen as tolerant of other people’s views, and they do not hold extreme views of their own. They advocate a “go-slow” or “wait-and-see” approach to social or political change.
Conservative: People who hold conservative ideals favor keeping things the way they are or maintaining the status quo if it is what they desire. Conservatives are usually hesitant or cautious about adopting new policies, especially if they involve government activism in some way. They feel that the less government there is, the better. They agree with Jefferson’s view that “the best government governs least.”
Reactionary: Sitting on the far right of the ideological spectrum, reactionaries want to go back to the way things were—the “good ol’ days.” Often reactionaries are willing to use extreme methods, such as repressive use of government power, to achieve their goals.

The position of each ideological classification as it relates to the issues

IDEOLOGY	Radical	Liberal	Moderate	Conservative	Reactionary
Government involvement	More	More	Some Involvement	Less	Less
Speed of changes in government	Rapid	Gradual	Slow to no change	No change	Return to the past
Political Parties	Communists Socialists Dem. Centrists Rep. Conservatives ← Independents → *
ISSUES	Radical	Liberal	Moderate	Conservative	Reactionary
Taxes	High taxes for high level of government services. State control over economy.		Mixture of both sides depending on individual convictions and political expediency.	Low taxes or large tax cuts. Reduction in government services and regulation.
Education	Government subsidizes public education through college level.			Government turns control to local agencies. Vouchers OK.
Defense	Reduce government spending on military. Interventionist foreign policy.			Increase spending on military readiness. Reduce U.S. involvement in world conflicts.
Environment	Regulate business to protect natural resources. Steer away from nuclear, coal, oil fuels.			Support exploration of federal land for new energy sources. Reduce government regulation.
* Dem. = Democrats; Rep. = Republicans

To see where you may fall on the political spectrum, click on the icon below to take a quiz which will analyze your beliefs and place you on the political spectrum.

Are you a Republican or a Democrat?

Do you agree or disagree with these results? Why or why not?

So who is running for office in this year's election? Click on the link below and type in your address to see a sample ballot.

http://www.vote-il.org/Default.aspx

Find the information on the worksheet for the Republican and Democratic candidate for each of the following offices:

Governor

US House of Representatives 19th Congressional District

Illinois State Senator 54th District

Illinois House of Representatives 107th District