Political_Parties

Political Parties The existence of more than one political party is important to the functioning of a democracy. It is important because political parties are the major mechanisms that develop broad policy and leadership choices and that then present those options to the people. Political parties are a vital link between the people and their government, between the governed and those who govern. Many argue that they are the principal means by which the will of the people is made known to government and by which government is held accountable to the people. Parties serve the democratic ideal in another important way. They work to blunt conflict; they are “power brokers.” They bring conflicting groups together. They modify and compromise the contending views of different interests and groups, and so help to unify, rather than divide, the American people. They soften the impact of extremists at both ends of the political spectrum. Again, political parties are indispensable to American government. This fact is underscored by the major functions they perform. The major function of a political party is to nominate candidates for public office. The nominating function parties, government, people, party, political, both, groups, function, candidates, american, role, public, one, major, important, functions, elections, democratic, between, another, work, win, way, watchdogs, voters, vital, views, united, unify, underscored, try, together, take, suffer, stimulate, states