American Government and Why it Works

When we think of the “American Revolution” we immediately think “liberty”, but what is liberty if not a dangerous idea that splits society apart? Liberty is man’s freedom of choice, but to choose wisely is not a given, which is why the government exists. As Madison states in the Federalist #10, “Liberty is to faction what air is to fire.” Liberty is the fuel of ideas, but ideas in the government can spark chaos and anarchy. Madison articulates, it is either liberty or conformity of ideas, but both options are either impossible or dangerous.

As Madison states in the following passage:

The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society. A zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other points, as well of speculation as of practice; an attachment to different leaders ambitiously contending for pre-eminence and power; or to persons of other descriptions whose fortunes have been interesting to the human passions, have, in turn, divided mankind into parties, inflamed them with mutual animosity, and rendered them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to co-operate for their common good. So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts. But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principal task of modern legislation, and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of the government.

Society is divided by those who own property, and those who don’t, those who are wealthy, and those who are not. By these distinctions, different opinions emerge based on each individual’s place in the social hierarchy. By using these differences, factions are able to have a “mutual animosity” to control or “check and balance” each other. For lack of better examples, it is like the quartering of a heretic or criminal in the fourteenth century. It is basically when four horses pull equally in opposite directions with the same amount of force, and therefore the criminal is “quartered” and split evenly amongst the four ends. All groups within the government exert an equal amount of opposing power onto one another, which is what Madison calls “checks and balances”.

Dividing power amongst different branches helps to check that no one branch grows to become the dominant power. However, not only is it important to prevent the dominance of one branch in a representative democracy, it is also important to check the power of majority groups. Madison expresses that this can only be prevented by creating a community will where decisions are not made by the majority but by society as a whole. Madison also underscores the idea that because of the many prevailing ideas, no one group will be able to influence society more than another.  The form of government that people fear the most, or more so, lack thereof, is anarchy. If a majority threatens the power of a minority, freedom is no longer an option. As a result, it is likely the government becomes an anarchy. Because of this constant fear of anarchy, society is able to prevent itself from slipping into chaos.

Madison articulates in the Federalist #51:

It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part. Different interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens. If a majority be united by a common interest, the rights of the minority will be insecure. There are but two methods of providing against this evil: the one by creating a will in the community independent of the majority -- that is, of the society itself; the other, by comprehending in the society so many separate descriptions of citizens as will render an unjust combination of a majority of the whole very improbable, if not impracticable.

All in all, it is in a large and vast country like America where this government is able to function on its own. Without the diversity of opinion and constant opposing ideas, the idea of “checks and balances” does not exist.