Party Affiliation in Legislative Organization
Although it may seem relatively unimportant on the surface, party affiliation plays an important role in legislative organization. Party affiliation reveals the voter's philosophical stance, affects the way the government organizes, and is intended to reveal the voter's convictions (Fair).
A voter's philosophical stance is evident from the party he chooses to affiliate himself with. For one thing, "party affiliation is the first vote a citizen casts" (Fair). It defines what the voter stands for, and "It should be taken as seriously as a vote for a specific candidate" (Fair). Party affiliation can be viewed as a type of shorthand that immediately sums up in the name of the party all of the voter's thoughts and feelings about the issues that his party has taken a stance on. When a voter states that he is a Democrat or a Republican, he is communicating what he thinks about the issues of big government, taxation, welfare, and illegal immigration, just to name a few, because both parties have prominent ideologies and defined platforms on these issues. In legislative organization, party affiliation saves much time and argument, because it lets everyone know just where individuals and parties stand, so they do not have to reinvent the wheel by reiterating these stances every time.
Party affiliation also affects the way the government organizes (Fair). As Fair points out, "legislatures organize themselves and conduct business using party affiliation." Each party meets separately and holds its own caucus, and each party has control over appointing people, choosing chairmen, shaping the agenda, and in many other ways impacting the outcome (Fair). Given the power of the legislative branch, the activities of political parties go a long way toward affecting the eventual outcome of any political issue brought before the legislature.
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