Political Parties and the Electoral Process Research Paper

Political Parties and the Electoral Process - Research Paper Example On the other hand, the republicans are adherent to conservative philosophy. Republicans hold that it is not the sole responsibility to care for every citizen even if it is charged with the responsibility of regulating and overseeing morality. Republicans believe on individual responsibility and minimal or no government interference on how people live their lives. Second, the republicans vehemently oppose the idea of abortion, which they perceive as murdering the fetus. On the other hand, the Democrats support abortion right, arguing that women should have the right to make preferred choices over what to do with their own bodies. Therefore, the republicans and the Democrats are pro-life and pro-choice respectively (Harrison, 2013). Third, republicans follow unilateralism ideology and believe that the United States should apply martial force without any help from other nations in case of security threat emergence. On the other hand, democrats believe that the united states need to work with strong alliances when acting in the international scene. Fourth, republicans accentuate power decentralization to states whereas democrats emphasize on high federalization. The democrats strongly believe that the federal government should have more power (Harrison, 2013). Despite the fact that third parties have been ever-present in the electoral process of the United States, they have never been successful at presidential elections. Third parties failure can be attributed to the fact that America’s two major parties (Democratic and Republican parties) have profound influence in the political system of the country. A two-party system has been the country’s political norm and most voters are accustomed to the two party system making third parties peripheral at the presidential level in the electoral process (Herrnson & Green, 2002). Third parties have therefore remained unfamiliar concept to voters