What’s a Democracy? – 08/31
Federalist 10
• Madison → in favor of Constitution
• strong government → capable of controlling violence and damage caused by factions
• factions → groups of people who gather together to protect and promote their special
economic interests and political opinions.
• Factions frequently work against the public interest, and infringe upon the rights of
others + political instability produced by rival factions → need federal government to
control this.
• But factions are inevitable → As long as men hold different opinions, have different
amounts of wealth, and own different amount of property, they will continue to
fraternize with people who are most similar to them.
• 2 ways to control a faction according to Madison:
o Remove its causes → but this is impossible because this would destroy liberty or
push everyone to have the same opinions, passions, and interests → factions are
natural.
o Control its effect → we must accept the existence of factions and deal with its
effects through a republic or representative democracy.
• Representative democracy → the many elect the few who govern.
