The fourth President of the USA (1809-1817), James Madison, was a political philosopher and stateman before he rose to Presidency. Below are some of his writings in The Federalist Papers in 1767, about factions in society:
" Liberty is
to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires.
But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to
political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the
annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to
fire its destructive agency.
"As long as
the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it,
different opinions will be formed.... The diversity in the faculties of men,
from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable
obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the
first object of government. From the protection of different and unequal
faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds
of property immediately results; and from the influence of these on the
sentiments and views of the respective proprietors, ensues a division of the
society into different interests and parties.
"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."
-- James Madison, The Federalist Papers, Federalist no.
10, November 1787.
Factions, diversity and inequality among people is
natural and inevitable if society is free. Individual freedom allows people to
choose their fate, to be lazy or hardworking, complacent or ambitious. So from
such liberty, acquisition of private property (from cell phones to tv, cars and
offices) is inevitable, and it is an important function of government to
protect private property.
Since inequality and diverging economic interests is
inevitable, a minimum degree of regulation, not zero regulation, is necessary
to protect the people's right to property and right to liberty, without
resorting to violence and heavy coercion resulting in property expropriation.
Good comments from an Iloilo-based American friend, Bruce Hall, 3 years ago when I posted the above points in my fb wall. Bruce wrote,
"Let me, the
lecturer in history, put Madison's quote into context. To Madison and other
18th Century American political thinkers, factions were evil things. Factions,
as opposed to interests, were permanent organizations of politicians who worked
to increase their organizations power and wealth, bending the powers of the
government to favor them. They were in short organized special interests, that
continued issue across issue. Parties if you will (and the American Founders
were adamantly against parties, structuring the Constitution as best they could
to prevent the formation of parties). This needs to be contrasted with
different positions on a particular issue. There will always be multiple sides
on any single issue. But those sides are not permanent. They do not continue
once the issue is resolved. Nonoy and I might be opponents on Issue A but on
Issue B we are allies. Factions are always opposed to each other, across the
issues.
Americans were
opposed to factions -- or special interests -- and this was an argument against
creating a federal government out of the 13 original states. Those arguing
against federalism and in favor of separate or nearly separate countries --
those arguing against centralization -- argued that a central federal
government will be used by factions (special interests) to favor themselves
over the public good. Madison argued in the Federalist paper, in favor of a
federal state, in favor of more centralization, that factions exist in human
nature. Freedom and human nature creates factions. They will exist regardless
of what the political structure is.
This is an
important point. The main argument against freedom today -- made by the
fascists, communists, social engineers and others -- is that human nature is
malleable (by the advocates). That one can create a better world with a strong
hand at the top controlling and shaping. That governments properly structure
can bring about heaven on earth. Madision, I think, would argue that no human
beings are flawed fallen creatures that governments must take our flaws into
consideration. Factionalism is one of our flaws. Much as we may hate it, there
is no way to get rid of it. We can suppress it artificially with violence but
that will not last long Eventually human nature -- like the ocean eroding a
cliff -- will win out.
By the way, in my
experience, the only way to overcome division is to allow it full expression.
Allow the sides to fight it out fairly, openly and honestly. Eventually one
side wins and the other loses, and since nobody likes losing, they give up.
When debate, argument, discussion the natural course towards resolution is
stopped. The division festers. Eventually it explodes, a la Libya, Eqypt,
Yugoslavia, the Sudan, Somalia, Iraq."
"The two great
points of difference between a democracy and a republic are: first, the
delegation of the government, in the latter, to a small number of citizens
elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens, and greater
sphere of country, over which the latter may be extended.
"It is in vain
to say that enlightened statesmen will be able to adjust these clashing
interests, and render them all subservient to the public good. Enlightened
statesmen will not always be at the helm. Nor, in many cases, can such an
adjustment be made at all without taking into view indirect and remote
considerations, which will rarely prevail over the immediate interest which one
party may find in disregarding the rights of another or the good of the whole.
"The inference
to which we are brought is, that the CAUSES of faction cannot be removed, and
that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its EFFECTS."
-- Madison.
There, enlightened/unselfish/non-compromised statesmen
and leaders, will never be able to fix such clashing interests even if they
wish to. And even if they can, they will not be around for long. If the
structure for their central adjudication, central planning is created and made
permanent, a greater danger of scoundrels taking the place of those enlightened
statesmen will surface.
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See also:
Pol. Ideology 65, Liberals and liberty, positive and negative freedom, January 06, 2016
Pol. Ideology 66, On institutions, constitutional monarchy and liberal parliamentary democracy, May 10, 2016
Pol. Ideology 67, Socialism and Venezuela, June 08, 2016
