●
“When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, or on the other
hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the
rights of other citizens” (75).
Removing the causes of faction:
1.
Destroy liberty by taking away political rights from people who abuse them. This in turn
would destroy democracy. (Madison argues against this)
2.
Give every citizen the same passions and the same interests. This is to persuade citizens to
care about the common good.
3.
Controlling the effects of the faction
a.
Structure the government in a way that prevents the abuse of power.
b.
Madison believed that representative or “
republican
” government is the solution to
factions.
Direct democracy vs. Republic
●
Republic
= “representative democracy” government where citizens elect representative
instead of making the laws by themselves. “The scheme of representation takes place (76).
●
Direct democracy=
“Pure democracy” in which people decide on policy initiatives directly.
○
Ex: making laws, directly electing or dismissing officials, and conducting trials.
●
Two types of Direct democracy:
1.
Participatory democracy= all members of the population make contributions to
decision-making, broaden range of people that participate.
2.
Deliberative democracy= (used in U.S Government) deliberation is central to
decision-making.
Individualism
●
Individual weakness in a mass democracy. The passion for equality and the indifference to
freedom cause there to be a concentration of power and democratic despotism.
●
“General apathy” the failure to vote or be informed about politics
●
Individualism shapes the behavior of people who are involved in politics
○
Citizens in a democracy make high demands of their government
Moral empire/democratic tyranny of the majority
●
Strong as a collective, democratic equality makes us individually weak. (equally weak)
●
Due to our weakness in a democratic equality of conditions, we are more prey to an even
worse form of tyranny.
●
Tyranny of the majority is worse because it's primarily psychological.
●
Just because it is democratically decided that doesn’t mean it's not tyrannical
●
If the majority thinks it, it must be right
●
Passion for equality; if i have an opinion that different it might seem like it think that i'm
better than other people.
●
Culture of conformity
Tocqueville's conception of the importance of local governments and associations
●
Democracy makes us all equally weak
●
makes you not feel week to the desires of the majority
Soft despotism
●
People are under the illusion that they are in control, when they actually have very little
influence over the government.
The New Left
●
Political movement that campaigned for social change on civil rights, gay rights, abortion,
gender roles, and drugs.
●
New left caused changes in the party practices of the democratic party.
Primary reform
Democratic Party
●
New left caused the democratic party to chance their primary practices.
