The Federalist 10 and the Violence of Factions - Essay Example

The Federalist 10 and the Violence of Factions Introduction James Madison s that the Federal governmenthas established a government that has the ability to control the violence and the damages caused by the factions. He goes on to define factions as groups of people that come together to promote and protect their political opinions and their economic interests, which may be special (Rushefsky 4). Despite the fact that these factions resemble each other, it is a fact that they work against the interest of the public and they intimidate the rights of other people especially the minority. James Madison assumes, in his own opinion concerning the human nature that factions are strong in the propensity of humankind, such that humankind can fall into mutual animosity where there is no any presentation of substantial occasion, in most frivolous and vivid distinctions, which have resulted to rekindling the unfriendly passions and the most violent conflicts between the two. The federalist 10 is the most interesting essays of James Madison, written in 1787. This essay talks about the liberty, the role of the factions, and the remedies and the extent to which the government should control the concerns that result from the factions. James Madison follows the description of the factions as the group of citizens that either mounts to the majority or as the minority of the whole citizens, united and prompted by a common interest concerning the rights of the citizens or based on the common interest of the society. Madison interest is majorly on the political and social insecurity caused by the opponent factions; this implies that Madison has to discover the core structure of the government as a whole. His interest id to discover the best structure of a government that will be able to provide remedies for this faction thus he came up with the Federalists 10, which Madison found to provide the best remedy (Hrebenar, and Bryson 41). James Madison bases his arguments on the effects of the factions and he says that the effects of the factions and the case of liberty are the same thing (Hrebenar, and Bryson 40). Therefore, he opts to go about identifying the effects of the factions and looks forward to identify how the effects of the factions may be controlled. This is evident where he compares liberty to faction and he compares air to fire, he continues to say that none of the two exists without the existence of the other. However, it could not cause a lot of trouble to abolish liberty, which is only important in politics and nourishes the faction rather. This brings out the fact that the factions are very essential to the government and thus removing the factions’ means that the government would oppress some people, which is against what the government should be doing. He also sees that liberty and factions are very important aspects of the government and he comments that as far as the reasons for man to live are outlined and they have the liberty to exercise it, very various opinions will exist. Therefore, a healthy government is one, which allows expression of citizens, and on the other hand, the government ceases to be healthy incase the causes of factions affect it. However, James Madison suggests that the Republican structure of government can deal and tackle the issues concerning the causes of factions. The Republican mode of a government, as Madison suggests, is able to control the effects of factions more than the way the Democratic structure of government does. The Republican type of government made up of the representatives who carry out the beliefs and the passions of the majority of the citizens representing it. Both the Democrats and the Republicans make up the republic, the two groups, the Democrats, the Republicans cast many varied opinions, and thus they form factions. James Madison also suggests that the structure of the Republican form of government has the ability to defend the rights of the minority and the rights of the individuals and it is able to stabilize the necessities of the community. In addition, the Republican type of the government is able to create a distance from the factions thus creating a very friendly environment and legislation for the community. Madison does not uphold direct Democracy simply because the common citizens have a large say in the government (Rushefsky 14). This is because he doubted whether the common citizens could have enough information concerning the matters of the government and hence he feared the fact that they could not make good decisions. Democracy, according to Madison, this means that the people in the public will have the right to make their own decisions, which favor their interests at large. This will become some form of biasness. James Madison in his book says that no man makes his own decisions and gives judgment because the judgment would be bias and this would probably corrupt the integrity of a person. He continues to say that the body of a human being cannot serve as the judge and the party at the same time. However, this argument of Madison supports the argument of Aristotle, which states that the common good understanding is just exclusive of the elites (Hrebenar, and Bryson 27). This means that the elites have the chance to represent the government without any form of bias since they have knowledge compared to the non-elites. Eventually, the common majority would take the advantage since there is nobody to approve the truth; this will thus lead to the oppression of the minority since the majority would come up with their own legislation. Therefore, Democrats can never be able to rule since they will not be able to deal with the factions since the majority will always win and the minority will have no representation at all. On the other hand, the Republican can be able to deal with the factions. The only risk that comes with the representative system is that the representatives would be very few and thus unequal distribution of power which would lead to distortion of the system (Rushefsky 25). Therefore, the Republican form of the government would be the best type of the government and the United States benefits from this since the Larger the size and the population of the area the better the representation of the Republican system of government. The most consistent supply of faction comes from the property and the imbalance of allocation of property. It follows that it is the nature of man to act selfish and this portrays the faction of property (Hrebenar, and Bryson 16). People tend to associate with people of similar class and status. The problem arises here when people associate with people who seem to posses the same ranking as they in social, economic, and political terms. It is also a tendency of the human beings to have different opinions depending on the nature of the property they own. One cannot compare the opinions of a civil servant to the opinions of a self-employed person. Similarly, the people who have more ability own more property than the less privileged people do. Therefore, the security of the rights of the property of the owners should get the first priority for the government supports those with the ability. The government also has to protect the individuals who do not own any property. In the society, those who own property have come into conflicts with those who do not own property. Both the two groups have formed their own interests in the society whereby the debtors and the creditors come to disagreements. Following the argument of Madison, the various interests of the property owners and the non-property owners regulates his principal task. Therefore, it is advisable to use the Republican system of government for better legislation. Madison wanted to express the fact the Republican structure of the government rules better than the British type of government system. This was his main purpose of writing the federalist 10 (Rushefsky 22). He stated that the Republican system of government ruled with stability and effectiveness. He also wanted to pass the information on how the Republican government system can defend any tyranny caused by the factions that would be against the citizens. The issue about the factions has caused problems since the period after the revolution in 1776. On the other hand, factions also have some benefits to the government. This includes, minimizing the violence caused by factions in an attempt to give more liberty to the public. The Republican system of government included the interests of religion, social, physical, and financial. These varied interests, according to James Madison, would act as the savior to the people of America from the struggle of class differences. The view of Madison towards the issue of class difference is ungodly and he claims that it is very irresponsible of the government to practice class differences. Conclusion In conclusion, James Madison is in support of the Republican type of the government system since it is able to cater for both the representatives of the Democrats and the Republican systems. It is able to give equal opportunities and it safeguards the rights of both the minority and the general rights of the individuals in the society. On the other hand, he warns the people against the Democratic government system since in his view, he finds it very unfair since the majority always wins is the basic principle that applies in the rule. The majority will always take the advantage of the minority and thus will set up legislation that oppresses the minority. Comparing the two systems of government, the Republican government system has more advantages to the public more than the Democratic system of government. Work Cited Hrebenar, Ronald J, and Bryson B. Morgan. Lobbying in America: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2009. Print. Rushefsky, Mark E. Public Policy in the United States. , 2013. Print. Read More