Why are political parties importantin a democracy?
142682
the alternative is dictatorship.
858683
All citizens but especially politicians get to say they want to run for president.\n\nTheir parties get to decide who they want to support.\n\nOnce the parties decide which one candidate (or more) they want to support, they then go through the process of nominating them \n\n(Remember, there are more than one party-- and citizens get to run too, but they must get petitions saying so many thousands support them)\n\nThen there is a whole process of funding the run for presidency, the ads, travel and speeches and such.\n\nThen there is a primary to narrow each party down to one candidate.\n\nThen the people vote.\n\nThat's Democracy in a nutshell
588306
There are various opinions on what constitutes a democracy, but in general, it is the ability of the people to have free and fair elections and for there to be a peaceful transition from one person/regime/political party to another. The people need to also have a real choice in the elections, having only two candidates who are selected by the party in power is not a legitimate choice.
190518
Democracy is better in any form or shape and like two sides of a coin has its goods and bad...............but you gotto believe in it, the fundamentals of democracy that is right to the people ..............\n\nand isnt corruption also there in any form of government.........think abt it ....
210352
...as Solvek says...\nand their purpose is to question and force discussion about the policies of government. The opposition generates debate. The opposition parties have a very important role in seeking out faults in the governments proposals.
663120
there are many factors used when voting or choosing a party to vote, the most important are:\na) your choices.\nb) their policies.\n\nIt's like a McDonalds Menu except its hard to find the meal without trans fat :-P (an honest politician).\n\nSo many things need to be fixed in a country or state, so there will always be a shopping list of needs, you want your represent to fulfil, before you vote for someone.\n\nTaxes, Health Care, The Environment and Employment seem to be the important ones. Soooo, most of the major parties aim to "buy" your vote through a tax cut you'll never be eligible to receive, then they'll offer you a free visit to see the doctor and then promise to improve recycling and after that they'll try and get you to work for the government.\n\nThe voters ideology for the mostpart is a common one, but minority group's ideology tend to be left behind because that's the flaw of democracy, even if the minority consists of a million people, the major parties tend to overlook you by honing in on the common things that voters need from their party. as a result, the minority group has to choose between a lesser of two evils in their minds, because in truth their ideology does not permit them to choose anyone, but they want to choose somebody.\n\nIf your options are limited, then your ideology is constrained and you have to make sacrifices to your ideology before being able to make a choice. This is when you choice ceases to be motivated by your ideology.\n\nThat being said, I think most voters do use an ideology and its co-incidental that they reflect what the major parties offer in terms of policies.\n\nMinorities tend to vote without ideology though. they tend to be disillusionned and just vote for the lesser of two evils. Then there are those who don't vote at all. At this point people realise that you have bad choices in politics and none of your choices really make a difference in anything.
840220
Because they want to live simple. Too many political parties can weaken the current governments and create the political mayhem and disasters.
949227
In the political spectrum, there is little difference between the two parties. It's more hype to keep the respective bases in line, as you state.
833908
Nothing meaningful actually. As democracy implies the pluralism of (many different) choices. During the cold war era communist rulers  tried to push the illusion that communist countries were truly democratic under the leadership of one communist party that took care of the working class and all the people. Nonsense actually the rulers only cared for themselves. The democratic thinking people in communist countries then invented the term pluralistic society and democracy to counter the pretense of despotic authorities that the communist regimes were the best democracies. It doesn't have much meaning now.
938062
Education is an important factor in electing a party to form government.  Education does away the considerations other than the merit and past services of the person seeking election.\n\nFurther, I see brightness in Information Technology being introduced in governement records.  Once the records are computerised, taking a decision, which is clearly against the facts on record, will become difficult.  \n\nThirdly the population should have some sense of honesty in general.  If a politician is offered the bribe, how and from whom can he demand.
441201
We have a two party political system that has developed in our country.  In what we call our primary election, the two parties put up candidates that want to run for the presidency. Each party holds an election to see who will be the candidate for their party. Each party could have as many candidates as people that want to run. In the last election there were at least 6-8 democrats that ran to see if they could get elected from their party to fun against the republican party.\n\nNormally the party that is in office don't run anyone against the person that is occupying the office of president because they want to show unity. It is not to say that at sometimes others don't run it just that on a norm others don't run against a candidate that is already in the office.\n\nOnce the two parties have selected their candidates the two then run against each other to see who will be the president of the United States.\n\nEvery now and then you might find a third party candidate that have met a majority of the states requirements to run a third party candidate. This does happen a few times as we have several small parties that put up candidates like the Green party and Independent Party are the two most outstanding ones I know.\n\nThis is basically why we normally have two people running for the office of the presidency.\n\nOther countries such as England and France have a different system with lots of parties.\n\nI hope this will be of help to you, good luck
786524
Good question.  It probably has more to do with the money associated with being in a political party.  Third party candidates tend to be self-financed (Ross Perot) and most candidates don't have a personal fortune of his size.  Therefore, most candidates join a party where they can get access to money,
700492
Some politicians pick their party based on what party is most popular at that time in order to get elected.\n\nLater, after they have established their power base, some switch to what they really believe. Some switch later on in the event their party is no longer the popular party because they want to stay in power.
1176957
because there is no choice you have to vote for a party in this supposed democracy . a true democracy would allow you to vote for your choice without a set party and vote him/her into parliment but only with proportional representation
1021758
Neither, it is the individual, their history, vision for the future, and how they understand the relationship of government (any level) to the individual, which is important.  As most of the Founders understood, political party (faction) is not conducive to good government.  \n\nElective officials are to represent the interests of the constituents who live in the geographical areas which elect them.  As has been said in the past (Tip O’Neal I believe) all politics are local.  That is not only a reality but is also a positive nature of politics.  Supporting a political party to the exclusion of all other consideration is an exercise in the amassing of power.  \n\nViewing the political parties as the stereotypical images only confuses the choice further.  Both of two older political parties (and to some degree the third parties) are organizations which are focused on the amassing of power through the political system.  To maintain those power positions they use governmental powers to alter laws so that they are maintain in office.  Since the 1860s both of the two older have changed, altered, switched, and co-opted political positions many times with the singular goal of maintaining power.\n\nIndividuals of either of these two parties, the parties, and independents, are not necessarily robotic followers of party position.  Most will respond to a proactive citizenry.  To the degree that they follow current party policy, there will be a lessening of the proactive citizen.
1090209
They are not necessary. They are an instrument that allows the people to pick a representative. Without them, it is hard to see how one could have a democracy. However, elections alone are not suffient to have a democracy.
116151
The concept of democracy started in Ancient Greece. It was meant to be a government for the people by the people.