Deck 12: Political Parties

Question 1

Many early observers of the presidential selection process ______.

A) expected the Electoral College always to be conclusive as to who was selected president
B) expected the House to make the choice most of the time
C) thought that it undermined any incentive to organize parties
D) believed that the Supreme Court would normally choose the President

Answer 1

B

Question 2

No matter how well organized, electoral alliances fail ______.

A) if they try to be all things to all people
B) because they cannot always clearly differentiate their message from other alliances
C) if they cannot get enough people to vote for their candidates
D) because there are always too many divisions within an alliance

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Why did the Framers have such a pervasive fear of political parties?

A) The rigidity of the party system in the colonies generated a great deal of free riding and nearly undermined the American Revolution.
B) The strength of the British crown was rooted in the party system.
C) Historical experiences about the dangers that resulted from factional strife along with 18th century social beliefs caused the fear.
D) Because men could not be trusted, any permanent alliances would naturally lead to tyranny.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The "party organization" refers to one part of a connected three-part system that is ______.

A) composed of those voters who identify with the party and regularly vote for its nominees
B) dedicated to electing the party's candidates
C) only the party that is affiliated with the majority of the population
D) an alliance of current officeholders cooperating to shape public policy

Question 5

Although most Americans consistently say they prefer that control of government be divided between the parties, ______.

A) a majority of Americans vote "split-ticket"
B) a large majority of voters identify themselves as Republicans or Democrats and loyally vote for their party's candidate
C) nevertheless almost 70% of Americans now identify themselves as Republicans
D) the percentage of Americans who identify themselves as either Democrats or Republicans is at a historic low

Question 6

The First Amendment's guarantees of freedom to speak, write, and assemble ______.

A) ensured that political parties would not be necessary
B) ensured that political party activities would be legal
C) undermined the early efforts to build political parties
D) gave way to strict regulations on political party-building activity

Question 7

The "party in government" refers to one part of a connected three-part system that is ______.

A) composed of those voters who identify with the party and regularly vote for its nominees
B) dedicated to electing the party's candidates
C) only the party that is affiliated with the majority of the elected officials
D) an alliance of current officeholders cooperating to shape public policy

Question 8

Why does the Constitution create incentives for party organization?

A) The provision for enacting laws and electing leaders puts a huge premium on building majority alliances across institutions and electoral units.
B) The government cannot function until formal party organizations are instituted because parties clearly identify the common good.
C) The unicameral nature of the legislature with many interests from the states requires an organizational force to overcome barriers to collective action.
D) Only by developing party organizations in the elected units of government can they effectively counter individuals serving in the judiciary and bureaucracy.

Question 9

Typically more than half of voters tell pollsters that the two major parties ______.

A) have co-opted the best ideas from the Constitution Party
B) do such a great job that a major third party is not needed
C) satisfy their policy options so no additional parties are needed other than the Green Party
D) do such a poor job that a third major party is needed

Question 10

Why was free riding a major concern for the early parties?

A) Supporters could only enjoy the party victory if they actively participated in the campaign.
B) Many candidates would do little work and hope that the presidential candidate would attract enough votes for the party.
C) Many supporters of the party would get the benefits of victory whether or not they contributed money to the campaign.
D) Supporters were able to enjoy the party's victory whether or not they voted.

Question 11

The threat of collective punishment by the voters gives the majority party a strong incentive to ______.

A) govern in a secretive manner so voters are kept in the dark about policy
B) downplay the party label so voters are confused about which candidate is with which party
C) govern in ways that please voters
D) appoint opposition party members to important offices so voters will think the party is fair

Question 12

Political parties are ______.

A) not mentioned in the Constitution
B) prohibited by the Constitution, although the First Amendment overrides the prohibition
C) explicitly provided for in Article II of the Constitution
D) prohibited by the Constitution, although the Supreme Court struck down the prohibition shortly after the first Congress met

Question 13

The party brand ______.

A) is created based on satisfying the wishes and desires of voters
B) is constantly refined through focus groups to find the most attractive way to catch the attention of voters
C) may impose conformity costs on politicians because they may need to subordinate their views and ambitions to the party's welfare and reputation
D) may impose high transaction costs because a system of candidate-centered politics means that each candidate chooses issues tailored to the constituents he wants to represent

Question 14

What effect did the increasing size of the electorate have on American politics?

A) Voters were more likely to make decisions on the basis of the personal characteristics of the candidates.
B) Networks of leaders and activists were assembled to identify and attract new voters and get them to show up at the polls.
C) It increased the reliance of the parties on nominating well-known presidential candidates who could attract easily impressionable voters.
D) Party leaders turned away from mass communications and emphasized the importance of personal contact for getting voters to the polls.

Question 15

Political alliances ______.

A) are coalitions that need sustained political efforts to hold together because individuals cooperate only as it serves their purposes
B) require a strong central figure who can coordinate action so that all members can work together for the best outcome
C) exist largely in Congress and are completely separated from elections
D) occur because participants agree to cooperate on action only when they have the same reason for doing so

Question 16

In An Economic Theory of Democracy, Anthony Downs defined a political party as ______.

A) a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavors and the national interest, based on some particular principle on which they are all agreed
B) any organization that seeks to influence the outcomes of elections
C) a team of men seeking to control the governing apparatus by gaining office in a duly constituted election
D) a machine with interchangeable parts

Question 17

Which of the following statements about the development of political parties is accurate?

A) Many of the leading figures, such as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson, were strong supporters of political parties.
B) The party system has changed in important ways over the years as political entrepreneurs have adapted parties to new purposes and opportunities.
C) The Constitution strongly discourages the creation and maintenance of political parties.
D) James Madison argued that parties were critical elements of republican government because they would identify important interests.

Question 18

Party labels ______.

A) offer a serviceable shorthand cue that keeps voting decisions cheap and simple for the voters
B) are basically misleading and tend to confuse voters
C) are usually downplayed during elections so voters do not normally know the party affiliation of the candidates
D) no longer mean anything to most members of the electorate or candidates

Question 19

The first American political parties emerged in Congress because

A) Article I of the Constitution required the House of Representatives be organized around the development of two parties.
B) The President was a nonpartisan figure who did not want to set an agenda so political parties helped create an agenda.
C) legislative leaders found it advantageous to cultivate a stable group of supporters by forming durable alliances.
D) legislative leaders found that only by organizing stable coalitions of supporters could they reduce the conformity costs imposed by Supreme Court decisions.

Question 20

The role of the two major political parties in the United States ______.

A) has been seriously weakened by the growth of bargaining and compromise needed to solve national problems
B) has never been healthier based on how people vote and evaluate candidates, who wins elections, and how the nation is governed
C) has been strengthened by institutional reforms that enable the parties to limit dissent and spend more money on campaigns
D) has been weakened because of the adoption of proportional representation that facilitated the growth of serious third parties

Question 21

Which of the following is true about the Democratic national party convention that convened to renominate President Jackson in 1832?

A) It was so consumed by divisive factional arguments that Jackson was never formally renominated.
B) It is considered to be the first national party convention.
C) It settled on Martin Van Buren as the Democratic nominee after several ballots failed to garner enough support for Jackson.
D) It was such a failure that no party held a national convention again until the early 20th century.

Question 22

What was the significance of the 1840 presidential election?

A) It marked the first peaceful transfer of presidency following an election and cemented the stability of the two-party system in the United States.
B) It extended organized two-party competition to every state in the nation, framing not only the contest for president but also competition for offices at all levels of government.
C) It was the first multiparty presidential election in the history of the United States and established the practice of voters strategically defecting to one of the major parties.
D) This was the first time in the history of the country that the franchise was extended to all citizens, and voter turnout was remarkably high.

Question 23

The system of proportional representation ______.

A) tends to produce more legislative parties, but it has never been tried in the United States on any significant scale
B) has declined in popularity around the world because having too many legislative parties creates too much uncertainty in government
C) guarantees that no party will receive a majority
D) encourages voters to behave strategically by turning to one of the less objectionable major party candidates who has a chance to win

Question 24

What party found its only presidential success by nominating a popular military hero without known political coloration and obscuring party divisions by not writing a party platform?

A) Republican Party
B) Democratic-Republican Party
C) American Party
D) Whig Party

Question 25

Which of the following is true about the two-party system in the United States?

A) It is mandated by Article II of the Constitution.
B) It has continued with a few exceptions since shortly after the nation's founding.
C) It is like most other modern democracies in the world.
D) It was a condition before most of the original states would agree to be bound by the Constitution.

Question 26

What are the consequences of Duverger's Law for political candidates?

A) They must join one of the existing parties.
B) Office seekers usually join one of the two competitive parties rather than pursuing office as independents or third-party nominees.
C) It forces candidates to strategically align their positions on the issues with the party so they can take full advantage of the party label.
D) Joining one of the major parties guarantees that a candidate will have sufficient financial resources to run a competitive campaign.

Question 27

The "party in the electorate" refers to one part of a connected three-part system that is ______.

A) composed of those voters who identify with the party and regularly vote for its nominees
B) dedicated to electing the party's candidates
C) only the party affiliated with the majority of the population
D) an alliance of current officeholders cooperating to shape public policy

Question 28

Which of the following is an example of a policy or idea promoted by a third party that ended up in one of the platforms of the major parties?

A) the regulatory innovations sought by the Populist Party in the 1890s
B) George Wallace's promise of "segregation yesterday, segregation today, segregation forever"
C) the promise of H. Ross Perot to stop the North American Free Trade Agreement.
D) prohibition on the manufacture and sale of alcohol by the Prohibition Party in the 1870s

Question 29

How did the 1824 presidential election affect the development of political parties?

A) Martin Van Buren built a national party based on the planters of the South and the plain republicans of the North to contain the most explosive issues of the day.
B) It led to constitutional changes so that the House of Representatives would not be able to generate any corrupt bargains in future presidential elections.
C) It was the first recorded effort to hold a national party convention where the people could choose a presidential nominee and determine the party platform.
D) John Quincy Adams built an alliance among southern planters and northern republicans to counter the populist appeals of Andrew Jackson.

Question 30

The earliest political parties in the United States developed around ______.

A) disagreements over civil rights and the decision of the United States to create a series of military alliances
B) the desire to abolish slavery and build a powerful military that could project the strength of the United States across the globe
C) measures designed to foster economic development and disagreements over whether the United States should have stronger ties with England or France
D) the decision to purchase the Louisiana Territory and whether the United States should try to form a political union with Canada to counter European influence in North America

Question 31

The leadership of political parties ______.

A) is dominated by successful and prominent men who view public service as a temporary duty that falls to members of their class
B) is dominated by full-time professionals who have the skills to build networks of party workers, manage electoral alliances, and mobilize voters on Election Day
C) has fallen primarily to the party activists who are willing to volunteer their time because they are deeply invested in promoting the interests of the parties
D) operates largely through patronage as party leaders attract resources to reward those working on behalf of the party

Question 32

Which of the following statements about third parties is true?

A) No third party has ever successfully emerged from the winner-take-all political system in the United States.
B) H. Ross Perot in 1992 demonstrated that third parties could succeed in the United States and built the Reform Party into a viable option for disaffected voters.
C) Only those third parties that manage to supplant one of the two reigning parties as a viable option in voters' minds gain rather than lose support from strategic voters.
D) The Whig Party was the third party to replace an existing party in 1856 when the Republican Party fatally split over the issue of slavery.

Question 33

The Federalists, one of the first two major parties, faded as a national force when which of the following occurred?

A) Their pro-British leanings put them on the wrong side of the War of 1812.
B) President Washington denounced them from the well of the Senate.
C) President Adams resigned from the party while in office.
D) Their opposition to judicial review led Congress to ban them.

Question 34

Duverger's law explains ______.

A) why plurality elections always lead to party systems with more than two major competitors
B) why office seekers will frequently pursue office as independents or third-party nominees
C) why in a system in which a single winner is chosen by plurality voting, serious competitors will be reduced to two
D) why the Electoral College is so frequently unable to choose the President

Question 35

How did the Democratic-Republicans respond to the Federalists rolling up legislative victories in the earliest congresses?

A) by recognizing they needed more like-minded people in Congress, which involved recruiting and electing candidates
B) by realizing the system of federalism meant that the states could block policy changes by refusing to follow the decisions of the federal government
C) by making sure that the Supreme Court would declare many of the bills passed in Congress as unconstitutional
D) by relying on dilatory tactics in Congress to increase the transaction costs of passing bills

Question 36

The years of the Monroe presidency were dubbed the Era of Good Feelings because ______.

A) they were not interrupted by any armed conflict
B) Monroe was reelected by acclamation and elected to a third term with no serious opposition
C) they lacked any significant party conflict
D) they represented the most robust economic situation ever experienced by this country

Question 37

Responsibility for nominating presidential candidates during the first party system rested with the ______.

A) individual candidates
B) party conventions
C) state nominating conventions
D) parties' legislative caucuses

Question 38

How did the practice of presidential elections change during the first party system in the United States?

A) As the Democratic-Republicans grew strong, its members in state legislatures coordinated to select the best candidate to represent the party in the presidential election.
B) The fragmented nature of the party system meant that Congress played a major role in choosing the President so this limited the influence of the executive branch.
C) As competing slates of delegates pledged to support specific presidential candidates, the candidates replaced individual electors as the objects of voters' decisions.
D) The Federalists organized the first national party convention to build popular appeals to the electorate.

Question 39

Party coalitions persist in part for which of the following reasons?

A) because party organizations remain decentralized, mirroring the decentralized institutions of American federalism
B) because party organizations remain highly centralized, mirroring the political organization of the states
C) because party organizations remain quite weak, so as not to impede the candidates.
D) because party organizations remain strong enough to be able to impose whatever conformity costs are necessary to keep their coalitions in line

Question 40

What is the term used to describe politicians' awarding jobs, offices, government contracts, and other benefits to their supporters?

A) graft
B) kickback
C) patronage
D) soft money

Question 41

The Republicans regained the White House from the New Deal coalition Democrats in 1952 by taking which of the following positions?

A) by promising to administer the New Deal programs more frugally
B) by promising to repeal the New Deal programs
C) by promising to greatly expand the New Deal programs
D) by claiming that the New Deal programs were no longer relevant in American politics

Question 42

How did the parties solve the problem of free riding in elections?

A) They made participation exciting and fun.
B) They instituted mandatory voting.
C) They replaced the secret ballot with public ballots.
D) They made Election Day a national holiday so no one had to work.

Question 43

How did the 19th-century party machines reflect politics in the United States?

A) Politics was a full-time profession and winning local elections to keep patronage flowing was the paramount goal of party professionals.
B) The parties were increasingly professional and the national parties began to exert more control over local organizations in order to promote the party brand.
C) Many of the major reform efforts were designed to strengthen the parties so they could bring new voters into the electoral process.
D) The parties were still filled with well-educated and wealthy individuals who regarded public service as a key part of their identity.

Question 44

Following the adoption of Progressive reforms, what happened to voter turnout in the United States?

A) It increased dramatically because people were able to vote for candidates of different parties.
B) The candidates worked much harder to mobilize voters so voter turnout increased.
C) The various changes combined to produce a significant decrease in voter turnout.
D) There was no appreciable change in voter turnout because the incentive structure really did not change very much.

Question 45

The fight over the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1968 resulted in ______.

A) a permanent breakup of the Democratic Party into factions that have only recently reconciled
B) a constitutional amendment that required presidential candidates compete in primaries and caucuses to win a party's nomination
C) reforms of presidential nominations that foster more inclusion
D) the emergence of the most unified Democratic platform since 1932 and propelled the party to new electoral successes

Question 46

Which of the following statements about the establishment of the Republican Party is true?

A) It was formed in opposition to the Volstead Act.
B) It appealed to business and commercial interests by promoting a protective tariff and a transcontinental railroad.
C) It was at its core a single-issue party that was devoted to the abolition of legal abortion.
D) It drew support from a variety of existing parties such as the Progressive Bull Moose Party.

Question 47

The experiences of George McGovern in 1972 and Jimmy Carter in 1976 under the new rules illustrated that ______.

A) outsiders with tenuous links to others in the party could compete and make it harder to win and govern
B) making the process fairer would damage the party on Election Day because it shifted the Democrats too far to the left
C) Republicans would have a permanent advantage in presidential elections because the party could quickly rally around a nominee who had not been bruised in the primaries
D) by making the process more representative and fair, the Democratic Party could capture the vital center in American politics

Question 48

How did party competition affect the spoils system?

A) It reduced party competition because both parties agreed to share the spoils of government, such as government contracts.
B) It discourages voters from participating because the parties were concerned more about government jobs than producing effective policies.
C) It generated a significant amount of polarization in the party system because only unified parties could capture enough votes to distribute the spoils of victory.
D) It provided a private reward to party activists who helped overcome the free-rider problem, which would have left the parties stillborn.

Question 49

Which of the following was a reform Progressives advocated in the 19th century?

A) the direct election of U.S. senators by voters
B) woman suffrage
C) allowing registration on Election Day to generate higher levels of voter participation
D) the passage of literacy tests to exclude blacks

Question 50

The effect of the McGovern-Fraser Commission was ______.

A) to enable party leaders to pick a candidate who would help the whole party on Election Day
B) to create a system of campaign financing that enabled candidates outside of the mainstream to have enough resources to compete
C) it changed the system so the party base has more influence than insiders
D) it changed how the Republican Party chose delegates to the national convention in order to reduce the influence of social conservatives

Question 51

What did the Progressive reformers hope to accomplish?

A) They wanted to strengthen the political parties by establishing clear platforms that would give the voters clear choices.
B) They wanted to reform the Electoral College to encourage presidential candidates to campaign across the country.
C) They sought to destroy the party machines by depriving party leaders of the capacity to reward followers.
D) They wanted to end the professionalism of politics by instituting term limits and property requirements for public service.

Question 52

Why did diverse groups come together in the New Deal coalition?

A) Some supported Roosevelt's policies on economics and social welfare, while others remained part of the Democratic coalition out of tradition.
B) Some supported rolling back economic regulations that would foster economic growth, and others joined because of Roosevelt's willingness to fight totalitarian forces.
C) Some favored policies that would create silver as alternative source of money to gold, while others supported Roosevelt for religious reasons.
D) Some favored policies that would commit the federal government to owning the means of production, and others joined to promote the adoption of state-sponsored religion.

Question 53

Paradoxically, the Progressive Era left the Republican Party and the Democratic Party ______.

A) organizationally much stronger but in a much weaker electoral position
B) under a cloud of suspicion regarding corruption of the presidential election of 1864
C) as third parties; Whig and Bull Moose became the two major parties until the Great Depression
D) organizationally weaker but more entrenched than ever in the political system

Question 54

What pattern did the Democrats and Whigs set for the future of political parties?

A) The only way to attract enough supporters to win elections is by providing them with material benefits.
B) Every successful American party has cared more about winning elections than about furthering a consistent set of principles.
C) Presidential elections, with the control of patronage, are a higher priority than congressional elections.
D) Every successful American succeeds by furthering a consistent set of principles rather than caring about winning elections.

Question 55

What type of election allows the party's voters to nominate candidates?

A) presidential
B) realigning
C) primary
D) selection

Question 56

Which of the following issues caused the New Deal coalition of Democrats to begin to unravel ______.

A) civil rights for African Americans
B) swine flu vaccination
C) Watergate
D) maintaining the gold standard

Question 57

How did the Australian ballot change the nature of political competition?

A) It made it easier for third parties to participate in elections because the state printed the names of all candidates for an office on a single ballot.
B) It was much more difficult for parties to exchange favors for votes because it left no legal way for the parties to know if voters kept their side of the bargain.
C) It enabled the political parties to access to elective public office by controlling nominations.
D) It strengthened the political parties because the new ballot form made it much easier to vote a straight party ticket.

Question 58

One consequence of the electoral reforms of the Progressive Era was to ______.

A) shift the focus of electoral politics from candidates to issues
B) shift the focus of electoral politics from parties to candidates
C) dramatically increase voter turnout
D) shift the focus of electoral politics from candidates to parties

Question 59

The main goal of party conventions in contemporary politics is ______.

A) drafting a party platform that all candidates running under the party label in the general election can embrace
B) choosing the party's candidate for President and Vice President
C) for state and local political leaders to renegotiate their complex coalitions
D) conveying an attractive image and message to citizens watching the action at home on television

Question 60

What were two of the more important reforms of the Progressive Era?

A) the "coal brigade" and the provision of civil war pensions
B) patronage and the provision of national pensions
C) the Australian ballot and primary elections
D) the poll tax and the spoils system

Question 61

Voters may not think much of parties, but large majorities still admit to party preferences and use parties to guide their voting decisions for which of the following reasons?

A) because they have no real choice but to do so
B) because there is a residual irrational loyalty to parties that has outlived the usefulness of the party label
C) because party labels still provide the cheap, shorthand cue so useful to rationally ignorant voters
D) because third-party candidates have unclear messages and ill-defined goals

Question 62

Primary elections deprived parties of a crucial political resource: the ability to control access to elective public office by controlling nominations.

Question 63

Among which group has the sorting process been most noticeable?

A) working-class northern Whites
B) wealthy and well-educated African Americans
C) conservative southern Whites
D) liberal southern Whites

Question 64

Which of the following describes the distribution of those willing to call themselves Democrats or Republicans-that is, partisan identification-from 1952 through 2010?

A) It fluctuated wildly.
B) It remained surprisingly stable.
C) It has steadily and gradually declined.
D) It has steadily and sharply increased.

Question 65

The most salient difference between the current and the New Deal party systems is which of the following?

A) the newly gerrymandered Electoral College
B) the decline in the strength of the parties
C) the Republican Party's increased strength
D) the absence of party loyalty among voters

Question 66

The current party system is marked by ______.

A) declining levels of polarization as moderates make up a large proportion of each of the parties
B) heavy reliance on television advertising funded by soft money to mobilize voters
C) the widening ideological divide between the parties in Congress
D) much more fluid electoral coalitions that change depending on what the most salient political issues are

Question 67

When issues have arisen that split the existing party coalitions in the United States, which of the following has also occurred?

A) Party-line voting has declined and ticket-splitting has increased.
B) Third parties have normally replaced one of the former major parties.
C) The major parties have merged.
D) Party-line voting has increased and ticket-splitting has declined.

Question 68

Third-party movements contribute to the policy agendas of the major party coalitions even as the winner-take-all electoral system continues to deny third-party candidates public office.

Question 69

Under the civil service system, appointment and advancement depended on political pull rather than merit.

Question 70

Republican presidential candidates since Richard Nixon have sought to build winning coalitions by combining affluent economic conservatives with women, minorities, and young people.

Question 71

There was an irresistible temptation to press hot buttons when campaigns sought to persuade politically unsophisticated and uninvolved people that they had a stake in the election and a compelling reason to vote.

Question 72

Which of the following was true about the 2016 party platforms, which were statements of the policy positions of each party?

A) Few voters learn of the differences between the parties from them; rather, voters learned about the parties' positions through political news and campaign advertising.
B) They were most voters' primary sources for learning the differences between the parties.
C) They were very similar in the policies advocated by both major parties.
D) They avoided controversial topics such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and guns to appeal to the swing voters.

Question 73

When the leaders of the new government took the steps that led to the creation of the first political parties, they expected and wanted party competition to become a permanent feature of American politics.

Question 74

Divided government ______.

A) is unconstitutional pursuant to Article II of the U.S. Constitution and not a factor at all in the parliamentary systems of the world such as Britain and Canada
B) is such a rare phenomenon in American politics that it is virtually nonexistent
C) has not happened at the federal level since the end of the Progressive Era
D) allows each party to block the other party's more extreme proposals and forces both to compromise when making policy

Question 75

The most accurate statement about the differences in opinion between party activists and regular voters is ______.

A) there really are no differences in their opinions
B) party activists are less ideological and more pragmatic, whether conservative or liberal, than regular voters
C) party activists are apt to hold more extreme views, whether conservative or liberal, than regular voters
D) regular voters are more likely than party activists to consistently vote for their party

Question 76

The activities of the parties today are aimed at helping candidates compete more effectively at promoting the party brand means that parties ______.

A) are more in control of candidates rather than being in service to ambitious politicians
B) can dictate that nominees embrace the party brand as a requirement for receiving financial assistance
C) are less focused on mobilizing voters and more focused on promoting candidates who can communicate the message
D) are in service to its ambitious politicians but not in control of them

Question 77

The party conventions provided a forum for politicking that convinced diverse party factions to agree to unite behind a single presidential candidate and a coherent party platform.

Question 78

The history of party building is largely a story of the "outs" finding new ways to become the "ins."

Question 79

A system of proportional representation helps preserve smaller parties because votes for their candidates are not wasted.

Question 80

Parties grew out of the efforts of political entrepreneurs to build alliances and coordinate the collective activity necessary to gain control of and use the machinery of government.