What are the major functions of the major parties in the United States?

Different textbooks will give slightly different answers
to this so you might want to check in your text to see if there is a specific answer you
are expected to give.  In general, political scientists say that the functions of
parties are to:

• Make government work.  If the
  members of Congress, for example, were not joined together in political parties with
  leaders and such, imagine how much trouble they would have ever agreeing on anything or
  how much trouble they would have even getting
  organized.


• Help make politics simpler for the people. 
  There is so much going on in the world that it is hard to keep up on everything and to
  know what to think about everything.  When it comes to election time, it is hard to know
  what each candidate thinks about each issue.  Having parties makes things simpler.  We
  might know that we are Democrats or Republicans and that allows us to know more or less
  who we will agree with when new issues come up or when there is an
  election.


• Get people interested in politics.  Because the
  parties want to win, they are constantly trying to get more people to vote for them or
  to agree with them on the issues.  When they contact us through the mail or by phone or
  when they air ads on TV, they can increase the amount of interest we have in politics. 
  That is a good thing for a democracy.