A SHORT INTRODUCTION
Most other nations have private member based national political parties, whose members directly or indirectly, write and approve an enforceable political platform that gives political unity to the party. Conversely, the DNC and RNC collect money at the national level. Providing the convenience of one-stop shopping for donors,is not the only service these organization provide to us, the citizens! Working together our national committees can often create a great deal of bipartisanship.
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BIPARTISANSHIP AND OUR NATIONAL COMMITTEES Quotes are from _Arrogant Capital_, by Kevin Phillips pub 1994, Chapter V page 123
"Aspects of Republican-Democratic rivalry can seem as staged and phony as American professional wrestling. Since the 1980's bipartisanship in the United States frequently involves suspending electoral combat to orchestrate some outcome with no great public support, but a high priority among key elites."
"In foreign policy, these issues have included the Panama Canal treaties and NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico. On the Domestic front, bipartisan commissions or summit meetings have been used to increase Social Security taxes on average Americans while the income tax rates of the rich were coming down and to raise the salaries of members of Congress."
"The pay raise deal involved walking on so many political eggshells that both sides negotiated an extraordinary side bargain: that the Democratic and Republican National Committees would refuse to fund any congressional candidate who broke the bipartisan agreement and made the pay raise an issue!"
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Would you agree with any of the following comments?
1 The DNC/RNC can provide a significant amount of party unity by controlling who gets their money.
2. Any unity they provide would tend to be approved of by the donors.
3. Any time that a significant numbers politicians of both political parties feel disturbed about voter influence, both the DNC and the RNC stand ready to do all in their power to eliminate that influence.
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As a political science book I read in the 70's said (paraphrasing) ; "Political parties in the U.S. are probably unique in having few other functions than raising money for politicians."
Jack