Comparison Of Political Party Systems In The Usa And Spain
Hi Jake: How are you? This week I have been able to learn about the political parties of your country. At first, I thought that it was going to be the exact same as the Spanish one but I was wrong. So, after learning about the political parties of the USA, I have decided to write you a letter to let you know a little bit about the political parties in my country and how they are compared to yours.
Firstly, I would like to tell you what a political party is. A political party is a group of people who share the same ideology and whose aim is having the power to choose in decisions that affect all the citizens of the country. I have recently learnt that the USA has a two-party system, formed by only two major political parties: The Democratic Party and The Republican Party. People from The Democratic Party are known as liberals because they usually want to change social, political or economic policies. On the other hand, people from the Republican Party are called conservatives because they prefer not to change policies except if the changes can decrease taxes. They also defend social values which have been stablished for centuries. In the USA, political parties have lots of different roles: they bring money and support to candidates so they can be prepared to be future leaders, they share their point of view with citizens and encourage them to vote, giving them all the necessary directions; they also observe how officeholders perform so they can use the debilities from the other party to attract voters for the next elections. Finally, they can help with government issues. If a party has most of its representatives in one of the houses of Congress, the party controls that house.
Do you know that Spain has a multiparty system, formed by lots of political parties? The most popular political parties in Spain are: Partido Popular (PP), who is like the Republican Party; Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE), a moderate and liberal party Podemos, which is similar to the Democratic Party and Ciudadanos (C’s), a moderate and conservative party. In Spain, political parties have roles which are a little bit different than the American ones: they inform citizens about the different candidates who are running for election; they present their ideas to contribute to the wealth of all the country; they also bring citizens closer to politics by making them enrollees of the political party and discussing their opinions with the Government. If citizens want to be more involve with their political party, they pay a fee and become affiliates. These members help their political party by making campaign in the district they live in. For instance, where the city elections are coming, you can easily find affiliates from different political parties who want to give you brochures and talk about the political party’s campaign. Finally, they govern the different “Comunidades Autónomas” from Spain, like the states of the USA. And, different political parties can also control the cities. For instance, although Mariano Rajoy, the president belongs to the PP party, Barcelona is controlled by Podemos and the city of Madrid is controlled by Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid, a political party similar to Podemos.
As you can see both countries have similarities within their political parties. Political parties from both countries share similar ideologies: liberal, conservative and moderate. In both countries, citizens are informed about all the electoral process, receiving the information they need from every party. In Spain and in the USA, political parties can make decisions to solve problems regarding the central Government. Although both countries share some similarities, they are also very different in certain aspects. While in the USA there are only two major political parties, in Spain there are dozens of them. In Spain, political parties can control cities and provinces without having their candidates won elections for presidency. Finally, while in the USA, parties can encourage different candidates for elective office, in Spain parties choose directly their candidates for presidency. But, despite the similarities and differences, both countries have positive and negatives aspects.
Regarding the USA, it is very positive that political parties help citizens to understand how politics work. It is also very positive that political parties usually propose new people for candidates. But, unfortunately there are only two major parties so moderates sometimes have a hard time to choose a party. On the other hand, the positive aspect about political parties in Spain is that there are a lot of them to choose from. This aspect is very good because in our world there doesn’t exist only two types of ideologies. People can be conservative for some aspects and liberal for others. The negative aspect about political parties in Spain is that the same people always run for presidency and if you want to be part of a political party to contribute in your district, you have to pay a fee. To conclude, both countries have very good political party systems, but if I had to choose one, I would stick with the Spanish one basically because all the different parties you can choose from depending in your ideology. Also, by voting for a dedicate party, you know in advance who is going to be the candidate for president while in the USA you vote for people of the party and then, those people chose a candidate. So Jake, I hope you didn’t get too bored with my letter. I am looking forward to receiving your response.
