This paper talks about how to defend or guard against
factions. Factions are defined as a group of citizens that share a belief or an
interest that is contrary to the rights of others or the whole community. The main
question argued in this paper is how dangerous the faction is and how to
protect against it or eliminate it. The short answer that Madison gives is that
a strong republic would help defend against factions. Madison attacks the
diversity of opinions and different interests and accuse it of being the main
reason of such disharmony. By adapting a common interest shared among all
factions which will create a united republic is the solution to this dilemma. This
was Madison’s more realistic method of solving the issue after he rejected
another method he himself mentions. He argues that destroying liberty could
solve the issue by not give these factions the freedom to express their beliefs
and interests but this method is unrealistic and impossible to apply. The people
fought for liberty in the first place and to destroy liberty, you have to
destroy everything the Americans fought for in the American Revolution. He then
argues that a republic is better than pure democracy. He states the difference as
the democracy is people votes directly for laws they favor while a republic is
where people vote for a person from the elites whom they trust. The elected
elites does all the voting for laws on a republic. By doing so, Madison
eliminates the vast interest of different faction and the people and gets the
community to agree on few personalities who gains control over what the community’s
interests are. The larger the community,
the bigger pool of fit people to choose from to lead the country.
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