Use this American Government by the People video entitled Political Parties: Essential to Democracy to understand how government works and to study how Political parties are essential to democracy - simplifying voting choices, organizing the competition, unifying the electorate, bridging the separation of powers and fostering cooperation among branches of government, translating public preferences into policy, and providing loyal opposition. Learn how political parties help structure voting choice by nominating candidates to run for office, and how before the advent of direct primaries, in which voters determine the party nominees, the parties had more control of who ran under their label. Discover how States determine the nomination rules and while most states employ the direct primary, some use a caucus or mixed caucus system where more committed partisans have a larger role in the decision of who gets nominated.
Learn about Political Parties and Essential to Democracy.