According to the responsible party model, political parties have distinct platforms which they should carry out when their members get elected. To accept this model, you must believe that they are clear ideological and philosophical differences between the parties. Those distinct parties would accept responsibility related to the government’s performance while they are in charge.
Do you believe that parties adhere to the responsible party model? Do you believe there are clear distinctions between the parties?
Politics Matters 
Responsible Parties??? That’s cute. If accepting responsibility is a criteria for being a responsible party, all parties have fallen short. For instance, look at the issue of the government shutdown. The Democrats blamed the Republicans and vice versa. If the American people are the ones who suffer the most, why wouldn’t BOTH sides accept responsibility and BECOME responsible and work together instead of trying to hold on to its individual point of view for the sake of saying “I’m right and you’re wrong”? 😦
I do not believe that they follow through with the responsible party model. Politicians will promise anything and everything to get elected and then they don’t care anymore. I do believe that there are clear distinctions between the parties. They do like to stick together.
Absolutely not. Across the board yes you do see some interlinked goals, however they are not universal. At points in time the political parties do have a diverse distinction in the ideologies of party members and that is a good thing. It provides some relief over the two party systems dominance. It provides a different opinion where its least expected and that is something that keeps us informed and politically on our toes about current events.
To begin, no politician will ever accept responsibility for anything unless it would somehow help their cause. However, I do believe that political parties can be rather firm when it comes to their ideologies, if only when they are with fellow party members as a form of self-regulation. If you ever watch a Republican conference, you’ll notice that everyone gives very conservative speeches and Democrats do something similar, but with a liberal tone. Now whether these candidates will stick to these ideologies is an entirely different matter. I get the impression that each politician may be influenced by their party, but that they have their own agenda.
Political parties loosely adhere to the responsible party model in my opinion. During elections, politicians might more strongly promote ideals that align with their party and campaign with those platforms in mind to receive more votes. Once they are in office, politicians show more of their true ideologies with policies and new acts they create. Also, political parties are made up of different political ideologies that can overlap, therefore disproving the responsible party model.