Party, Ideology, Polarization

What is party discipline?

• See Kathryn Pearson, Party Discipline in the US House of Representatives
• Committee assignments
• The doghouse
• Campaign finance/electoral sanctions.  Problem:  party organizations generally do not pick candidates and, in federal elections, parties account for only a small percentage of receipts.

Origins of the proposals

• The Dixiecrats were very real

See for instance, 86th Congress (elected 1958).

South 

House seats by party holding plurality in state

  80+%–100% Republican

  80+%–100% Democratic

  60+%–80% Republican

  60+%–80% Democratic

  up to 60% Republican

  up to 60% Democratic

• "Conservative coalition" of Republicans and Dixiecrats dominates Congress until 1964

In the 1960s:

• LBJ landslide
• Redistricting decisions
• Changes in party nomination procedures after 1968
• Voting rights.  Andrew Young:  "It used to be Southern politics was just “n-----” politics ... then you registered 10 to 15 percent in the community and folk would start saying “Nigra,” and then you get 35 to 40 percent registered and it's amazing how quick they learned how to say `Neegrow.'  And now that we've got 50 to 70 percent of the Black voters registered in the South, everybody's proud to be associated with their Black brothers and sisters."