Explain what political parties are and what functions they serve.

Ex|| Federalist No. 10 ||  

The Same Subject Continued: The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection

From the New York Packet.

Friday, November 23, 1787.

James Madison

[…] liberty, which is essential to political life, […] nourishes faction, […] the latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man […] a zeal for different opinions concerning […] government […] an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power […] have, in turn, divided mankind […][1]

Political parties are points of access/linkage institutions available to the public, though they are not themselves government institutions. Neither interest groups nor political parties are directly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. Where interest groups often work indirectly to influence our leaders, political parties are organizations that try to directly influence public policy through nominating and officially sponsoring members who seek to win and hold public office. This is a key difference. Interest groups do not officially nominate or nominate candidates for public office, although they may support them politically and even contribute dollars to their campaign.

Parties accomplish this by identifying and aligning sets of issues that are important to voters in the hopes planation:

the answer is true sir