Well folks, you know sooner or later we’d be discussing aspects of recent and upcoming elections, from the purely political perspective. To clarify, chapter 3/21 was about groups and PAC’s–which exist for politics, but also have social and economic benefits. Chapter 4/22 was about voting and elections, which are government and administrative events. Chapter 5 and more chapter 22 is up next, about political parties in Texas. Sigh… Unlike the previous 2 chapters, this topic is full of historical trends, organizational limits, and no clearly defined boundaries. Darn it, give us a break, and a system that makes sense please!

Actually, it does function, but in a dysfunctional way!  What I mean specifically is that an affiliation with a political party means “more than likely” one is grouped with like-minded people, about like-minded ideas. The problem is that MOST Texans agree on many ideas, but how do good or useful ideas become policies?  What does this idea holder do if he or she is elected to govern? Our goal for this week is to learn about the differences between political parties, in Texas, and how these organizations control political power (through majorities and winning offices) and how those in power use the voter’s geographical locations (districts) to get re-elected (redistricting) Ugh.

Mostly though, we can make our estimations of candidates or officeholders by first understanding a bit about the party system (chapter 5 sections 3-5, chapter 22), and then the four significant functions of the parties (section 6)

Please read over these chapters carefully, and answer the following questions:

1. Study/trace the temporary and permanent party organizational structures in Texas. As an ordinary citizen wanting to become active in party politics, where would you start, and how would you proceed?

2. Next, see the link below…These are the political parties in some form of existence in Texas.. Read over them, and list 2 items (planks) you agree with and 2 that you disagree with, for at least 3 parties

http://www.mondopolitico.com/parties/us/texas/us.tx.pp.htm

Finally, which party platform surprised/interested you the most, and why?