LAD #4 - the Federalist Paper #10

1. Why are factions so difficult to eliminate?
A faction is when a group of people, whether or not it is a minority or majority, unite as one and agree to disagree, "adversed to the rights of other citizens". Factions are the essence of man’s nature and therefore go hand in hand with liberty. The Tenth Federalist Paper says, "Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without it which instantly expires." This means that, in creating a a government whose foundation is based on liberty and equality, automatically sets up for factions to arise. In eliminating factions, one could remove the causes or control its effect. Yet by doing so, would be to abolish liberty or would create a robotic type of community. In this type of society, every citizen has the same opinions, the same passion, and the same interests, which would be a complete bore. Therefore it would be literally impossible to remove such factions without completely destroying the government which had been created under the Constitution.

2. If factions cannot be removed then how can they be controlled?
The American constitution, created a republican government. This means that a central, dominating power is eliminated from taking over. Thus, halting any action that would later erupt into a dictator or monarchy. Since factions are the nature of man, and since the cause of factions cannot not be removed for fear of destroying the liberty of the United States, the effects of factions therefore must be controlled. If the faction is less than a majority, the Federalist papers say "relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote." Though this may mask the party's actions, it will not mask its actions under the Constitution. Under the American government, when the faction is a majority, the party is able to sacrifice its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens. The Constitution encourages that the public vote for officers who they believe will represent them the best. Though they do not directly vote on each issue there is a trust that the elected representative will do what they feel is the good for the whole public. Elected representatives also means, that a diversity of people are elected, therefore eliminating the probability that a whole faction would be elected. Smaller and weaker factions can thus be controlled by a strong federal government. Though this does not totally eliminate factions, it does control the effect its actions have on the good citizens of America.