Political Elections

A political election is a process by which a group of people or a population of people make a decision to choose an individual to hold office. Elections are usually the defining aspect of what a democracy stands for– being able to choose individuals in government to represent the people. Elections can be held to fill office in a legislative, executive, and judiciary branch both in local, state, and Federal governments. An election does not have to be political; it is a process that can also be held to elect corporate officials in a business or within a non-profit organization.

What is Involved in an Election?
There are many aspects of a political election, from the time that someone decides to run for office to the time of election day when people travel to political polls to cast their votes.

Nomination:
Nomination of a politician is the process by which the politician is chosen to represent a political party (such as the Democratic or Republican parties) to be voted in a political poll for office. Most partisan systems only allow certain parties to have nominated candidates put on political polls when an election is held for a certain position. This time of political poll voting system is usually practiced in partisan systems. Non-partisan systems either allow any person wishing to run for office to be nominated, while other non-partisan systems allow anyone to be voted for office in a political poll without any kind of nomination. There is an obvious exception, however, such as age restrictions.

What Are Politics?
Politics is the term given to a process by which a group of people make important collective decisions. Politics generally refers to decisions and actions by governments, but a politic can also describe actions within a corporation, academic organization, or a religious institution. A politic decision generally involves social relations with a large group of people by a smaller group of people who hold power. A politic is also an action that is formulated and enforced by those in authority through specific methods and/or tactics. The actual word “politics” originates from the Greek word politika, from politic, a word modeled from Aristotle’s book “affairs of state”.

Political Views

Politics is the term given to a process by which a group of people make important collective decisions. Politics generally refers to decisions and actions by governments, but a politic can also describe actions within a corporation, academic organization, or a religious institution. A politic decision generally involves social relations with a large group of people by a smaller group of people who hold power. A politic is also an action that is formulated and enforced by those in authority through specific methods and/or tactics. The actual word “politics” originates from the Greek word politika, from politic, a word modeled from Aristotle’s book “affairs of state”.

The Concept of Left-Right wing politics came from the days of the French Revolution, when the seating arrangement that was arranged in parliament was divided up into two groups: those that supported the changes of the revolution sat on the left while the people that sat on the right supported traditional beliefs of the Church.

Left and Right Wing System in the United States:

Left-Wing:
In the United States, there are two dominant political views that dominate elections on the local, state, and nationwide level for office. Left-wingers, also known as liberals, are generally found in the Democratic Party. The main ideology and political stance of left-wingers is the support of social change, with a goal of creating a society that leans toward egalitarianism. Egalitarianism is the view that all individuals in a society should be treated as equals, both socially, politically and economically. The political views of left-wingers have very close ties to the ideas of socialism, anarchism and communism, all movements that took place in Europe.

There are several degrees of individuals who are considered left-wingers. Generally, the further “left” they are, the more of a liberal political stance they will have. A politician can be considered to have a political stance that is center-left, or far left. A politician with a center-left political stance is closer to the mainstream of political views, such as a mixed economy, and state intervention. Far left is a position that has a more radical liberal political stance. Far left is generally associated with communism or an anti-capitalism political stance. These parties have been a national security issue for decades, with the United States Department of Homeland Security believing that communist extremist want change through violent revolution rather through civilized political change.

Right-Wing:
Right wingers, also known as conservatives, support a society or social order and place a large emphasis and value on traditional beliefs while preserving the status quo. The political stance spectrum for conservatives is center right and far right. The term far right is often described as a person whose beliefs are firmly rooted in nationalism, religious ties, and perhaps reactionary groups such as Nazism and fascism. The Department of Homeland Security describes right wing extremists as hate groups with a political stance to target minority groups both ethnically and religiously. Political views in the center right is in line with the majority of conservatives, that support liberal democracy, capitalism, property rights and an opposition of socialism and communism.

Political Parties

Politics is the term given to a process by which a group of people make important collective decisions. Politics generally refers to decisions and actions by governments, but a politic can also describe actions within a corporation, academic organization, or a religious institution. A politic decision generally involves social relations with a large group of people by a smaller group of people who hold power. A politic is also an action that is formulated and enforced by those in authority through specific methods and/or tactics. The actual word “politics” originates from the Greek word politika, from politic, a word modeled from Aristotle’s book “affairs of state”.

What is a Political Party?
A political party is an political organization with the goal of establishing power within a government by participating in elections to spread their influence and enforce their policies. They often have a firm structure of beliefs and ideology that fuels goals and means to obtain them. Politicians often team up with other members of the same political party who have similar interests.

Electoral Systems Within a Country:
A country’s electoral system is one of the prime factors for how a political party system works. A system where there are two political parties at the forefront of an election, is usually employed with a first past the post voting system. Countries with proportional representation, which is more prevalent in such places as Europe and Australia, three or more political parties are involved in close races within elections.

A nonpartisan system, political parties do not exist, mostly enforced by legal restrictions forbidding political parties. In these types of elections, each person who is a candidate for office runs on his or her own beliefs. George Washington’s Presidential administration was put into office in a nonpartisan system. In most cases, unless there is a law against nonpartisan systems, most nonpartisan systems develop strictly political parties.

Single Political Party Systems:
In a single-party system, one political party only is allowed to hold office. In most cases, minor parties are allowed to run, but are generally required to accepted the political views of the dominant party. Single political parties are generally found in communist countries such as China. As a result, this political system is associated with dictatorships.

Two Political Party System:
Countries such as the United States, Jamaica, and Ghana generally have a two political party system, where two parties dominate almost all elections held for office. The two parties within the system are powerful enough that any other parties generally have little to no success. In the United States, the Republican right-wing political party and the Democratic left-wing political party receive the majority of election votes. The United Kingdom is also considered a two party system, containing the Labour Party and the Conservative Party. Liberal Democrats, however, and some other parties hold seats within Parliament.

Political News

Politics is the term given to a process by which a group of people make important collective decisions. Politics generally refers to decisions and actions by governments, but a politic can also describe actions within a corporation, academic organization, or a religious institution. A politic decision generally involves social relations with a large group of people by a smaller group of people who hold power. A politic is also an action that is formulated and enforced by those in authority through specific methods and/or tactics. The actual word “politics” originates from the Greek word politika, from politic, a word modeled from Aristotle’s book “affairs of state”.

In the United States, left wingers and right wingers are known as liberal and conservative, respectively. Liberals are generally regarded as supporting reform while conservatives are concerned about traditional views. This political spectrum has been the basis of American political structure for many years. Both sides do not see eye to eye, and with the emergence of political news channels came a lot of controversy. Fox News and MSNBC, two leading cable news networks have come under fire for offering unbalanced news, favoring one side over another. They have both been accused of reporting about political leaders on one side more favorably then the other, although they both largely deny these allegations. Fox News even has the catch phrase, “Fair and Balanced.”

Fox News:
Fox News is a political news channel that has been accused over the years of having a bias towards the political right side. The creator of the network, Rupert Murdoch, believes that the channel is giving room to both political views in an industry where only one side has had it before. In a recent research poll, Fox News is regarded as the political news channel that has the most ideological views, more than even MSNBC.

The organization, Media Matter for America, has made one of the largest claims on Fox News for its distortion of political news. After conducting extensive research, Media Matters concluded that Fox News has a political right agenda for reporting its news and uses several tools at its disposal. These tools are cropping quotes spoken by President Obama (a left-wing democrat), Vice President Biden, and Vice President Gore to give the quotes a different context; editing New York Times reporters out of aired images (the New York Times is regarded as a left-wing publication); and showing footage that does not properly coincide with the even they are claiming to report.

MSNBC:
Another political news channel accused of distorting news is MSNBC, which is accused of giving a left-wing distortion on political news. People have accused the network of gravitating to the left and the majority of its prime-time lineup has been taken by commentators favoring democratic coverage over republican coverage. Many people also accused the political channel of pro-Obama stances and given coverage to him over Hillary Clinton, as well as providing negative coverage about Presidential Candidate, John McCain. Even their slogan used during the 2008 presidential election was “The Power of Change”, a slogan very similar to Obama’s slogan during his campaign for president.

Left Right Politics

Politics is the term given to a process by which a group of people make important collective decisions. Politics generally refers to decisions and actions by governments, but a politic can also describe actions within a corporation, academic organization, or a religious institution. A politic decision generally involves social relations with a large group of people by a smaller group of people who hold power. A politic is also an action that is formulated and enforced by those in authority through specific methods and/or tactics. The actual word “politics” originates from the Greek word politika, from politic, a word modeled from Aristotle’s book “affairs of state”.

Definition of “Politic”:
In order to better understand what modern politics involves, it is best to understand the route word in its simplest form. A politic is defined as a “shrewd or prudent in practical matters; diplomatic.” So, political affairs generally involve matters that will affect many people and are essential for the best interest of a large group of people. These are decisions that are not trivial or insignificant, but will have a large impact on a nation, which explains the practicality aspect of the word.

The Origin of Left-Right Politics:
In recent history, political experts and politicians have divided politics into a spectrum of left wing and right wing politics. This system puts a person practicing as a politician in either the left side, the right side, or on the center, meaning that a person in politics practices ideas from both the left and right ideologies. This type of political view dates back to the time of the French Revolution. Members of the National Assembly who supported the republic and a society of secular ideals sat on the left side of the room, while supports of a monarch system and the Church sat on the right side.

As time passed, however, and issues became increasingly more complicated, this system also become much more complex as well. The system also had slightly different interpretations, depending on which society is being analyzed. Even so, generally speaking, the right wing of politics often favors tradition while the left wing values reform, and people along the center develop a blend of these two ideologies, such as social democracy or regulated capitalism. In addition, right wingers believe in inequality and believe that it is the direct result of ineradicable nature, while attempting to enforce it. Left wingers believe that social inequality should be destroyed.

Left-Right Politics in the United States:
In the United States, left wingers and right wingers are known as liberal and conservative, respectively. Although this is true, the exact meaning of left and right wingers is not defined clearly and could mean a number of different things. People who are considered on the left usually believe in ideals such as the New Deal liberals, Rawlsian liberals, social democrats and civil libertarians. People on the right politic spectrum in the U.S. are generally regarded as social conservatives, Christian conservatives, and free market liberals.