Our Vote and the Role of Political Parties

the AZEL PERSPECTIVE Commentary on Cuba's Future, U.S. Foreign Policy & Individual Freedoms - Issue 361 B

José Azel's latest books "On Freedom" and "Sobre La Libertad" are now available on Amazon.  Our Vote and the Role of Political Parties (Previously published) Share Tweet Forward

In an earlier column titled “Why do we vote as we do?” I borrowed from the research of social scientists Christopher Aachen and Larry Bartels to overview the prospective and retrospective theories of voter behavior. A partial answer to the question of why we vote as we do is that we do not vote prospectively, on the basis of political ideology; we vote retrospectively based on our approval or disapproval of the performance of political leaders or parties. A related question is the role of political parties in our voting behavior. Here, again borrowing from the research of professors Aachen and Bartels, I seek to explore how political parties influence our voting. Professors Aachen and Bartels argue that “even the most informed voters typically make choices not on the basis of policy preferences or ideology, but on the basis of who they are – their social identities.”  A central tenant of democratic theory is that democracy is a methodology to aggregate our individually developed preferences into a collective choice. Then, as voters, we maximize our political satisfaction by voting for the party ideologically closer to us. However, voting scholars challenge the notion that individual preferences can be coherently aggregated since the political belief systems of most voters is a complex mixture of liberal and conservative views. “For most ordinary citizens, ideology is -at best- a byproduct of more basic partisan and group policies. Americans are much more resolute in their identification with party than they are in their identification with ideology.”  Our present-day understanding of “identity” is that people are embedded in groups that are meaningful to them. Thus, for American voters’ political identity is more a question of party identification than of political ideology. Party identities are an emotional attachment that transcends thinking, and our party loyalties shape our issue positions and not the other way around. In short, most voters identify with a political party, and this party identification shapes their voting behavior. As scholars put it, our partisanship is both a form, and a product of social identity.  To put it differently: Do people vote Republican because they are conservative on the role of government, or are they conservative on the role of government because they are Republican? Do people vote for Democratic candidates because they favor government regulations, or do they favor government regulations because they are Democrats?  It appears that we tend to choose our party affiliations based more on who we are -our social identity- than on what we think. We adopt political beliefs, attitudes and values that reinforce and rationalize our partisan loyalties. For most of us, partisanship is more a judgement of where “people like me” belong than a reflection of political ideology. Then, if the primary source of our partisan loyalties is our social identity, when voters take partisan positions they do so with little ideological commitment. Still, partisan loyalty is a powerful influencer of political behavior in modern democracies.  Aachen and Bartels note that partisan loyalties are only modestly correlated with our policy preferences and do not necessarily represent a voter’s agreement on issues or ideology. Political parties represent their constituencies on a different level; on a pledge of representing “people like us.”  Voters do not reexamine their fundamental political beliefs every election cycle, and at election time voters choose a party or candidate that validates their social and political identity. “A party constructs a conceptual viewpoint by which voters can make sense of the political world...That framework identifies friends and enemies, it supplies talking points, and tells people how to think and what to believe.”  If Aachen and Bartels are correct, their thesis on the construction of our political beliefs has serious implications for democratic theory and practice. Among them is a challenge to our core belief that voters should be represented, not just governed, and that citizens should actively engage in the thoughtful monitoring of their government. Government should derive its powers not just from our consent, but also from our political judgement. This construct falls apart if we vote primarily for politicians that match our identity.  Please let us know if you  this article. We welcome your feedback. Abrazos, Lily & José (click on the name to email Lily or Jose) José Azel, Ph.D. José Azel left Cuba in 1961 as a 13 year-old political exile in what has been dubbed Operation Pedro Pan - the largest unaccompanied child refugee movement in the history of the Western Hemisphere.   He is currently dedicated to the in-depth analyses of Cuba's economic, social and political state, with a keen interest in post-Castro-Cuba strategies. Dr. Azel was a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) at the University of Miami, Jose Azel has published extensively on Cuba related topics. In 2012 and 2015, Dr. Azel testified in the U.S. Congress on U.S.-Cuba Policy, and U.S. National Security.  He is a frequent speaker and commentator on these and related topics on local, national and international media.  He holds undergraduate and masters degrees in business administration and a Ph.D. in International Affairs from the University of Miami. José along with his wife Lily are avid skiers and adventure travelers.  In recent years they have climbed Grand Teton in Wyoming, trekked Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Machu Pichu in Peru.  They have also hiked in Tibet and in the Himalayas to Mt. Everest Base Camp. They cycled St. James Way (El Camino de Santiago de Compostela) and cycled alongside the Danube from Germany to Hungary and throughout southern France.  They have scuba dived in the Bay Islands off the Honduran coast and in the Galapagos Islands. Most recently, they rafted for 17 days 220 miles in the Grand Canyon.  Their adventurers are normally dedicated to raise funds for causes that are dear to them.  Watch Joe & Lily summit Kilimanjaro. Books by Dr. José Azel José Azel’s writings are touched with the wisdom of a master, and the charm of an excellent communicator. Anyone who wishes to understand why countries do, or do not, progress will find in this book the best explanations. And, from these readings emerge numerous inferences: How and why do the good intentions of leftist collectivism lead countries to hell? Why is liberty not a sub product of prosperity, but rather one of its causes? If it was in my power, this work would be required reading for all college and university students, and I would also recommend its reading to all politicians, journalists, and policymakers. With his writings Azel accomplishes what was achieved in France by Frédéric Bastiat, and in the United States by Henry Hazlitt: Azel brings together common sense with intelligent observation, and academic substance. Stupendous, Carlos Alberto Montaner                                                                    BUY NOW Los escritos de José Azel están tocados por la sabiduría de un maestro y la amenidad de un excelente comunicador. Cualquiera que desee entender por qué los países progresan, o no, encontrará en este libro las mejores explicaciones. De estas lecturas surgen numerosas inferencias: ¿Cómo y por qué las buenas intenciones del colectivismo de izquierda llevan a los países al infierno? ¿Por qué la libertad no es un subproducto de la prosperidad, sino una de sus causas? Si estuviera en mis manos, esta obra sería de obligada lectura de todos los estudiantes universitarios, pero además, le recomendaría su lectura a todos los políticos, periodistas y policy makers. Con sus escritos Azel logra lo que Frédéric Bastiat consiguiera en Francia y Henry Hazlitt en Estados Unidos: aunar el sentido común, la observación inteligente y la enjundia académica. Estupendo. Carlos Alberto Montaner                                                            Compre Aqui "Liberty for beginners is much more than what the title promises. It is eighty themes touched with the wisdom of a master, and the charm of an excellent communicator. Anyone that wishes to understand why countries do, or do not progress, will find in this book the best explanations. Stupendous" Carlos Alberto Montaner Buy Now "Libertad para novatos es mucho más de lo que promete el título. Son ochenta temas tocados con la sabiduría de un maestro y la amenidad de un excelente comunicador. Cualquier adulto que desee saber por qué progresan o se estancan los pueblos aquí encontrará las mejores explicaciones. Estupendo." Carlos Alberto Montaner Compre Aqui In Reflections on Freedom, José Azel brings together a collection of his columns published in prestigious newspapers.  Each article reveals his heartfelt and personal awareness of the importance of freedom in our lives.  They are his reflections after nearly sixty years of living and learning as a Cuban outside Cuba. In what has become his stylistic trademark, Professor Azel brilliantly introduces complex topics in brief journalistic articles. Buy Now En Reflexiones sobre la libertad José Azel reúne una colección de sus columnas publicadas en prestigiosos periódicos. Cada artículo revela su percepción sincera y personal de la importancia de la libertad en nuestras vidas. Son sus reflexiones después de casi sesenta años viviendo y aprendiendo como cubano fuera de Cuba.  En lo que ha resultado ser característica distintiva de sus artículos, el Profesor Azel introduce con brillantez complejos temas en  breves artículos de carácter periodístico. Compre Aqui Mañana in Cuba is a comprehensive analysis of contemporary Cuba with an incisive perspective of the Cuban frame of mind and its relevancy for Cuba's future. Buy now Pedazos y Vacíos is a collection of poems written in by Dr. Azel in his youth. Poems are in Spanish. Buy now

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