The distinction between principles, policies, and issues.
What the Leading Political Parties Stand for.—The general ideas upon which the members of a political party agree are incorporated into its platform and are commonly known as the party’s principles. For example, a party may pledge itself to the principle of promoting foreign trade, or conserving the natural resources of the country, or keeping aloof from the affairs of Europe. The methods by which these principles are to be carried into effect constitute the party’s policy. The principle of promoting foreign trade, to take an example, may be carried into effect by lending money or credit to exporters, as was done after the World War. But the different parties do not usually agree upon either principles or policy, and this divergence gives rise to party issues or points of conflict between the parties.
It is not easy to set forth in concise form the principal issues. During the campaign of 1916 the attitude of the United States towards the great European conflict was the pivot of attention; in 1920 the question whether America should or should not enter the League of Nations crowded most of the other issues into the background. The main planks in party platform change from one election to another.[[52]] During the past twenty years the platforms of both parties have dealt with a wide variety of matters; but the disagreement between the two parties has not always been clean-cut and in some cases it has left the voter little to choose between them. On some matters the two leading platforms are openly opposed; on others they are very much alike, and on some others, again, they are so ambiguous that it is difficult to tell just where they differ. As a practical matter it is not always wise to take an absolutely definite stand in the party platform, for conditions may change and by so doing place the party in the position of having pledged something which ought not, in view of the changed conditions, to be carried out.
The Minor Parties.—Americans, on the whole, have accepted the two-party system. The great majority of voters are either Republicans or Democrats. Nevertheless the platforms of these two parties never suit all the people and the result is that minor parties, or “third” parties as they are sometimes called, come into existence from time to time. During the past hundred years a dozen or more of these minor parties have been formed but with two or three exceptions they have soon melted away.[[53]] These exceptions are the Prohibition party, which was organized in 1872 for the purpose of securing the complete suppression of the liquor traffic in the United States. The adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment gave this party the chief thing that it had been contending for, but it has not yet gone out of existence. The Socialist party is the other example of a “third party” which has continued to be active for a considerable period.
Why “third parties” rarely survive.
In the United States minor parties do not usually live long. Very few of them survive a dozen years. There are reasons for this. In the first place the Democrats and Republicans are constantly adapting their platforms to the needs of the country. When any movement among the people becomes strong enough, one of the leading parties takes it up. If large numbers of voters, for example, should desire the abolition of divorces, one of the political parties would soon put an “anti-divorce plank” in its platform, and would thereby prevent any new party from making much headway on that particular issue. In the second place the American voters, taking them as a whole, have become accustomed to the two-party system. Very few of them are willing to forsake the old party organizations without strong reasons for doing so. When they do, temporarily, as a great many Republicans did in 1912 and a great many Democrats in 1920, they usually drift back again before very long. A new party, moreover, is difficult to organize and expensive to maintain. It has no chance to win the election and most people do not care to belong to an organization which never wins. So the easiest way to get new things adopted in public policy is to persuade one of the leading parties to champion them.
The Socialist platform.
The Socialist Party.—Among the “third parties” which exist at the present day the Socialist party is the strongest. It has a program widely different from that of either the Republicans or the Democrats. The Socialist party is organized to promote the public ownership of railroads, telegraphs, telephones, mines, forests, factories, and all other such economic instrumentalities. In addition to its economic program the Socialist party advocates the adoption of various political changes such as the abolition of the United States Senate, the election of all judges for short terms, and the abolition of the Supreme Court’s power to declare laws unconstitutional. In point of strength at the polls the Socialist party stands far below either of the two leading parties. It is much weaker in the United States than in the various countries of Europe.
Is “independence” a virtue?
The Voter’s Relation to Parties.—So long as political parties are essential in representative government, and so long as they perform useful functions, it is the duty of every citizen to affiliate with some political party if he can honestly do so. There are times, of course, when the voter of independent views cannot honestly support any of the existing parties. On this point every voter must make his or her own individual decision. There is no inherent virtue in being an “independent”; for if every voter persisted in assuming that attitude, there would be no political parties at all, and democracy would in the long run suffer rather than gain as a result. Most voters, as a matter of fact, belong to one of the leading parties and support the candidates of this party at every election. They are commonly called the regular members of the party. But membership in a political party does not mean that one is under obligation to support that party under all circumstances. It is possible to belong to a political party and yet retain a reasonable degree of independence. A political party gains, indeed, by having in its ranks a sprinkling of men and women who know their own minds on political questions and will not tamely follow wherever the party chiefs may lead.