IV.                State and Local Parties

1.       In every state there is a Democratic and Republican state party organized under state law, where each will consist of a state central committee, below which exists county committees and sometimes, city, town, and precinct committees.

                                                               i.      It’s better to know the actual distribution of power in each state party, but first, the incentives that motivate people in a place to become active in a party organization must be found.

2.       A political machine is a party organization that recruits members through the use of tangible incentives like jobs, money, and the chance to get high favors from the gov’t.

                                                               i.      At one time, patronage, or the struggle over political jobs, was the main concern of party organization members.

                                                             ii.      Places like Tammany Hall became famous for the political machines that operated there, and the federal bureaucracy became in important source of jobs (incentive), with the New York Custom House and the postal system becoming “rewards for good service.”

                                                            iii.      Fraud reigned supreme, and the arrival of Italian and Irish immigrants made it easier to gain cheap support, but gradually, fraud was curtailed, as civil service reforms and laws like the Hatch Act of 1939 cut down on offering gov’t jobs in return for service or support.

                                                            iv.      In many cities, however, ways were found to get around the law and maintain machines, but as voters grew in education, income, and sophistication, their need for party welfare system sank.

3.       Politics requires organization, and machines were efficient ways of maintaining that, plus there was huge voter turnout (even with fraud) where machines operated most heavily.

                                                               i.      Since machines were interested in winning, they didn’t usually care about the political views of a candidate, as long as he had the best chance of winning.

4.       The old campaign machine is almost extinct, but new machines that use money from donating individuals to knit together many politicians are springing up more frequently.

                                                               i.      Example: Henry A. Waxman and Howard L. Berman’s west Los Angeles machine gets lots of money but also has a strong interest in issues, especially at a national level.

5.       The opposite of a political machine is an ideological party, which is all about principle, spurns money incentives, and is usually contentious and factionalized (like pro- and anti-abortionists).

                                                               i.      Usually, ideological parties are third parties like the Socialist Workers or Libertarians.

                                                             ii.      In the 1950s and 60s, many of these groups were “reform clubs” that actually saw some success against mainstream political groups, but in the 1960s and 70s, these “clubs” coalesced into more focused social movements, based upon a sense of liberalism (Democrats) or conservatism (Republicans).

a.       Example: Pro-Republican Christian Coalition, which is very conservative and pro-life.

                                                            iii.      Now that social movements are the “farm clubs” of the big-league Republicans and Democrats, the major parties behave differently than before, when party machines were the “minor leagues”: internal factions abound while party leaders have greatly reduced powers.

6.       People who participate politically just for fun respond to solidary incentives.

                                                               i.      Many of these solidary associations are old machines that broke down and whose members continue to work and participate for sake of comradery and friendship.

                                                             ii.      Such groups are not corrupt or inflexible, but they are lazy.

7.       If an organization that can sponsor a local party structure exists in a community, a sponsored party can occur (example: the Democratic Party in Detroit is sponsored, led, and somewhat funded by the United Auto Workers union).

                                                               i.      The UAW has been successful in carrying Democratic wins in state and national elections, but sponsored parties are still not common in the United States.

8.       Some candidates form personal followings, made up of friends and family, to ascend the political ladder (i.e. the Kennedy family) and later try to form them into ideological groups, but to do this, a prospective candidate must have an appealing personality, a lot of friends, and/or a big bank account.

                                                               i.      This strategy is often used where political organization is weak or nonexistent.

9.       The traditional party organization exists only in about 8 states today, usually the old northeastern ones.