Politics and Public Policy in the United States

Introduction

One of the fears expressed by our Founding Fathers was the creation of factions within our government as famously penned by Alexander Hamilton in The Federalist No. 9, where he addressed the destructive role of factions in breaking apart the republic.¹  James Madison in Federalist No. 10 outlines that factions can lead to disputes over fundamental issues arising from the unequal distribution of property.²  Yet factions existed throughout the Constitutional Convention in various matters.  In a reversal of Madison’s position in the Federalist Paper #10, James Madison with Thomas Jefferson “soon came to realize, without an organized political party to mobilize their voters in the states and their fellow supporters in the Congress, they could not possibly overcome the entrenched political domination of their political adversaries, the Federalists.”³  Political parties are so ingrained into our political system and now are an essential component to representative democracy. 

When it comes to political parties, my students immediately associate the parties with politicians, not policies.  The Democratic Party is the party of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  The Republican Party is the party of Donald Trump—the man who associated Mexican immigrants as drug dealers, criminals, and rapists.⁴  They don’t see the Republican Party as the party of Abraham Lincoln, the man who emancipated slaves during the Civil War or the Democratic Party as the party of Andrew Jackson, who was responsible for the mass removal of Native Americans from their indigenous lands. 

The contrast between the demographics of these two political parties has become even more stark in the last few years of the current Trump administration.  Through this curriculum unit, I intend to help students better understand the complexity of the political party system and analyze the differences between the Democratic and the Republican views on significant issues that matter to my students.  As students delve deeper into the intricacies of our political systems, students will gain a better understanding of the political platforms of the two major parties and where they stand on key policy issues and how these parties have historically served people of color.  Also, it is important to realize the stark contrast on the demographics of each political party.  Why does the Democratic Party attract more people of color while the Republican party has a more substantial base among white males?  Students will have an opportunity to investigate this phenomenon and have a chance to ponder the advantages and disadvantages of a two-party system and whether, with the growing divide in America, there is another party system that might work better to serve the needs of all Americans.  As students investigate the complexities of our political party system, students will gain a better understanding of our government and make a more informed decisions going forward in their lives.  I want my students to ponder the question Janet Jackson once said, “What have you done for me lately?”