LH

Problem of Faction Lecture

Federalist 10:

  • A large republic with the improvements mentioned in Federalist 9 will actually work BETTER than a small republic, because it will better deal with the problem of faction. Factions are present in small and large republics, and indeed in all republics- because factions are interest groups. Specifically, they are groups that intend to pass legislation to dominate over other groups, infringing rights and frustrating the common good. Majority factions are the bullies, which can be found in democracies just as well as they can in aristocracies. How to deal with that is the question.

  • You either try to remove the causes of faction, or just try to control their effects. Trying to remove the causes of faction is futile, because if you take away people's liberty to associate you have made a horrible society (the "cure is worse than the disease"), and if you try to just form and educate the factions to get in line that is not practical either. People are always going to acquire different opinions, given the nature of human beings, no matter how good a propaganda system you have (that's even the case in North Korea!).

  • So instead Publius says we should try to control their effects and channel the factions in a good direction to make good laws. You do that first through good representation. Unlike what Brutus and the Antifederalists said, representatives do NOT simply reflect what their constituents want, so it does not matter that there is a large number of them. You want representatives to "refine and enlarge" what the constituents want by deliberating about the common good with other representatives, not simply parrot exactly what the constituents ask for. Second, you will get that good representation by "enlarging the sphere," and bringing in more interest groups, a multiplicity of interests, so that what would have been a bullying faction is now neutralized by other groups. Representatives will be chosen from across MANY groups, not just one or a few.

To summarize:

1. Remove the Causes of Faction (no)

1a. Remove liberty (no- the "cure is worse than the disease")

1b. Give everyone the same opinions (no- it is impracticable, because the latent causes of faction are "sown in the nature of man")

2. Control the effects of Faction (yes)

2a. Representation (yes- it "refines and enlarges the public views")

2b. Enlarge the Sphere (yes- it creates "a multiplicity of interests" that will neutralize each other)

Federalist 51:

  • What if the representatives of government themselves become a faction? Federalist 10 had considered factions among the people, but this paper looks at government itself as a possible faction. Given human nature and original sin, government workers will not be perfect little angels; they have to be channeled in the right direction by law too. Publius: "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself."

The place referrred to is the office- the office of the President, or Senator, or Judge. Those people must take pride in their office, and defend their branch against the other branches through a separation of powers. 

Checks and balances in the Constitution have been carefully calibrated to do that; in a democracy, a LEGISLATURE is closest to the people, and is therefore naturally the most powerful. So, it was deliberately weakened by Bicameralism (House and Senate division); the Executive was deliberately strengthened by being given a veto power. That was all by design; there are actual REASONS for the way the Constitution was designed!

The key idea though is that the authority of the People has been lodged in a permanent document- the Constitution. Authority flows from the Constitution out to the branches of government like the roots, trunk, and branches of a tree. When a branch of government attempts to go around the Constitution, and says it is "doing what the people want," that is not OK- that is a usurpation of legitimate authority in our system. And so, the Supreme Court is given the power to strike down unconstitutional laws that Congress might make; the President is given the power to veto unconstitutional laws, and so on.