The recognition that national parties should not control in the election of local and judicial officers has led to a movement for non-partisan elections. In a number of States judicial officers are nominated and elected through ballots required to contain no party designations. But a candidate must actually be sponsored by a political organization if he is to fare well in any election. The non-partisan election has accomplished more in municipal than in State elections.
Parties are organized on the basis of national issues. Few such issues are important in State Government, and fewer still in local Government. But the party organization, though national in scope, supports itself largely through the offices and other profits derivable from State and local Government. In spite of the movement for non-partisan elections, it is still possible to apply to the American party system the statement made by James Bryce in the eleventh edition of the Encyclopcedia Britannica: "The national parties have been so pervasive in their influence and the working of their machinery has formed so important a part of the political history of the United States, that it is necessary here to call attention to the high significance of this element in the system of the Republic. The party system has made nearly all elections, in cluding those for state offices and city offices, the functions of which have, as a rule, nothing whatever to do with national party issues, matters of party strife fought upon party lines. It has disposed voters in state and city elections to support party candidates, of whom they might otherwise have disapproved, for the sake of maintaining in full strength for national purposes the local party organization, and it has thereby become a fruitful source of municipal misgovernment. It has thrown great power into the hands of party managers, because where the strife between the two great parties is keen and the result of a contest doubtful, discipline and obedience are deemed needful for success. It has tended to efface state lines, and to diminish the interest in state issues, and has thus helped to make the nation overshadow the states." The democratic movement in the United States places upon the voter the duty of electing numerous officers of whose qualifica tions he cannot have knowledge, and of expressing an opinion upon numerous measures of whose merit he cannot be informed. The most intelligent citizen, devoting all of his time to public affairs, would in a large number of cases, of necessity, cast an unintelligent ballot. But the functions so imposed upon the voter
must be exercised, and the political party has been devised for their exercise. So long as the voter is asked to vote too much, party organization rather than political principles will dominate American policies except in the occasional case where the issue as to a candidate or a principle becomes sufficiently important to force the party organization into the background.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—James Bryce, The American Commonwealth (2 vols., new ed. 1924-1928). Briefer and more recent descriptions: Charles A. Beard, American Government and Politics (8th ed., 1939) ; W. B. Munro, The Government of the United States (4th ed., 2936) ; Frederic A. Ogg and P. Orman Ray, Introduction to American Gov ernment (6th ed., 1938) ; and William Anderson, American Govern ment (1938). For the State Government: Walter F. Dodd, State Government (2d ed., 1928) ; Arthur N. Holcombe, State Government in the United States (3d ed., 1931) ; and Austin F. Macdonald, Amer ican State Government and Administration (1938). The best general discussion of local Government is John A. Fairlie and Charles M. Kneier, County Government and Administration (193o). Adequate discussions of city Government: W. B. Munro, The Government of American Cities (4th ed., 1926) ; Thomas H. Reed, Municipal Govern ment in the United States (Rev. Ed. Upon politics and the party system: Edward M. Sait, American Parties and Elections (1927) ; Harold R. Bruce, American Parties and Politics (3d ed., 1936) ; P. Orman Ray, Introduction to Political Parties and Practical Politics (3d ed., 1924) ; and Robert C. Brooks, Political Parties and Electoral Problems (3d ed., 1933). Upon the American constitutional system: Max Farrand, The Framing of the Constitution of the United States (1913) A. C. McLaughlin, Constitutional History of the United States (1935) ; Edward S. Corwin, The Constitution and What it Means Today (6th ed., 1938) ; Henry Rottschaefer, Handbook of American Constitutional Law (1939) ; Charles Warren, The Supreme Court in United States History (New rev. ed. 2 vols., 1926). Im portant judicial decisions bearing upon the American Constitutions: Walter F. Dodd, Cases and Other Authorities on Constitutional Law (2d ed., 1937) and supplement thereto (1939). For current informa tion see American Political Science Review and the National Munici pal Review. (W. F. D.)