Why does the American form of government work?
According to the Federalist Essay #10, factions in the government are dangerous but inevitable. Madison defines a faction as a party of people "who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens." There are two ways of removing these factions, the first one is to eliminate the cause by either destroying liberty which is absurd because it is a necessity in the political life or giving everyone the same ideas which is also illogical because opinions will always be formed no matter how different they are from each other. So that leaves us to the second method, controlling the effects of factions. The formation of a union consisting of different representatives will help balance out the weight of the conflicting factions. This republican union is completely different from a pure democracy because, according to Madison, "a common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole... and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual." Meanwhile, a republic can bring a semblance of control through a balance of differing opinions and ideas which could hinder the expansion of a common cause, brought on by a faction consisting of the majority, that would most likely not benefit the whole nation. This continues on to the Federalist Essay #51 in which Madison ties it all up with a proposal of a format of a government consisting of mostly independent branches to assure a check in power. To guarantee such independency, each branch must have its own will and little involvement in the process of choosing who can be a part of the other branches as well as the distribution of salary. In result, "the different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself."
The American form of government works because of its representative structure that even out the concentration of beliefs and its ability to maintain separate offices that are not entirely dependent on each other in order to function properly and restrain from getting too ambitious. However, the real question is to what extent does this type of government work in the present day? The Federalist Essays outline the ideal government but does it address and solve the current problems such as police brutality and involvement in foreign conflicts?
Alee, I really like how you questioned the effectiveness of our government system in the end. When I was working on this assignment, I only thought about how to interpret the text, and give an answer off of what I read (somewhat like what you do on the SAT reading portion. Where you just read the text, and answer questions according. No speculation or guesses of what they were trying to tell you. Just the straight facts of what they were telling you) Wow, sorry for that extra blabbing. As I was talking, your questions really made me thought about things. (maybe this will turn into a discussion in the future)
ReplyDeleteIt does sound like an ideal government, at least in today's standards. There are just so many things that the government cannot solve right now. I have to agree with some of the things Madison said though. I felt a bit guilty for thinking this way, but when ObamaCare was passed. I thought it was stupid and a waste of tax dollars. Mainly because my health insurance is provided by my parent, and I have to account for the fact that I do live in the top zip-codes in America. Of course, my concerns will be different from the people that are both lower and higher. When I slowly stop and think about it, ObamaCare does help people with getting a cheaper insurance, but how much can they really help those people save? It's not much, and it's totally based on your income. It also makes me angry that our government is focusing so much on foreign affairs and conflicts. Is that really what the average american want? And like you said there are just too many 'incidents' being reported lately regarding the police brutality.
So what changes will you make to the system if you could make any, and do you think it will work better and solve the current problems we have now?
Alee, I completely agree with all of the points you made regarding representation and how it is nearly impossible to hear every single person now.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the questions you posed at the end of your post, I believe that a government works as long as all everyone is appeased because they feel that their interests are at least being heard. I think today, as the social classes become more defined, and the gaps between the classes are widening, the interests of the upper class vs. the lower are just too extreme and different. Because of this, a large amount of people are going to always be displeased with the government, especially with such large political parties with different interests. Basically, what I am trying to say that our government is not nearly as effective as it used to be because of the broad range of needs they are trying to meet.