FACTION, LIBERTY, AND PROPERTY - Essay Example

In his view, Madison said that liberty is worse than the disease of faction; liberty being among the two remedy to remove the causes faction, the other is by giving every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests. Liberty according to Madison fans factions and works like an air to a fire, “an aliment without which it instantly expires” and “as long as the reason of man continues to be fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed” (Madison 1).

Liberty despite its destructive agency, as it nourishes faction, “it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, [because it] is essential to political life (Madison 1). In his commentary in Federalist Paper No. 10, he wrote that as long as man is at liberty, different opinions will be formed. The unequal distribution of property which are those who have and have-nots are the most common and durable source of factions. This divided them into classes and actuated by different sentiments and views whom the regulation of these various and interfering interests is the principle task of modern legislation. 2. Why do factions present a problem to the institutions of a free and democratic form of government?

In Madison’s view, faction presents a problem when a “group of individuals created a faction with a common interest that was adverse to individual rights, the rights of minorities and against the common good” (Riley). A faction that is given a chance to rule will invariably push for their own narrow and selfish interests than can be inimical to justice and public good. As a result, public institutions will become an instrument of private greed where factions can hasten their own narrow self interest.

Worst, public institutions which should have been a dispenser of justice and an agent of public good will become an instrument for oppression and ceases to be free and democratic as it does not represent the true will of the people but only the narrow interest of the few. 3. Why does Madison consider factions both the underlying basis of, and the fundamental problem in, politics? Faction is spawned by man’s fallible reasoning and fanned by liberty which was later formed as a shared interest of a number of citizens in a given society.

This can be a fundamental problem in politics due to the nature of man to hold interest that is particularly inherent in his circumstances. Sidhu gave an example that “the merchant will naturally support low taxes on imports or exports and the religious man will resist restrictions on freedoms of expression” (8). In short, faction has a tendency to make man self-serving and will become a fundamental problem in politics if it becomes a supervisory agent of the people. In addition, faction divides people into contentious groups who are also endeavoring to pursue the same passions and opinions whose process only represents a marginal group of people whose interests can be inimical to public good.

Putting factions in leadership can be likened to investing private greed to be a supervisory agent of the state and the people which could present a problem in politics. 4. Is it possible to resolve this problem, and if so, in what manner? Madison’