Political Parties. The Constitution says nothing about political parties, but over time the US has in fact developed a two-party system

The Constitution says nothing about political parties, but over time the US has in fact developed a two-party system. The two leading parties are the Democrats and the Republicans. There are other parties besides these two, and foreign observers are often surprised to learn that among these are also a Communist party and several Socialist parties. Minor parties have occasionally won offices at lower levels of government, but they do not play a role in national politics. In fact, one does not need to be a member of a political party to run in any election at any level of government. Also, people can simply declare themselves to be members of one of the two major parties when they register to vote in a district

Sometimes, the Democrats are thought of as associated with labour, and the Republicans with business and industry. Republicans also tend to oppose the greater involvement of the federal government in some areas of public life which they consider to be the responsibility of the states and communities. Democrats, on the other hand, tend to favour a more active role of the central government in social matters.

To distinguish between the parties is often difficult, however. Furthermore, the traditional European terms of "right" and "left", or "conservative" and "liberal" do not quite fit the American system. Someone from the "conservative right", for instance, would be against a strong central government. Or a Democrat from one part of the country could be very "liberal", and one from another part, quite "conservative". Even if they have been elected as Democrats or Republicans. Representatives or Senators are not bound to a party programme, nor are they subject to any discipline when they disagree with their party.

While some voters will vote a "straight ticket", in other words, for all of the Republican or Democratic candidates in an election, many do not. They vote for one party's candidate for one office, and another's for another. As a result, the political parties have much less actual power than they do in other nations.

In the US, parties cannot win seats which they are then free to fill with party members they have chosen. Rather, both Representatives and Senators are elected to serve the interests of the people and the areas they represent, that is, their "constituencies". In about 70 per cent of legislative decisions,

Congressmen will vote with the specific wishes of their constituencies in mind, even if this goes against what their own parties might want as national policy. It is quite common, in fact, to find Democrats in Congress voting for a Republican President's legislation, quite a few Republicans voting against it, and so on.

TASK 2. Explain the difference between the two major parties in the US.

TASK 3 Explain the meanings of the following expressions and give Russian equivalents for them.

- to vote a "straight ticket";

- a major party;

- a minor party;

- liberal;

- conservative.

TASK 4. Read the text.