Factions in a Democracy versus Those in a Republic

More than two centuries ago, James Madison wrote eloquently on the problem of factions in society. He wrote that they were unavoidable, and a major source of trouble. However, a republic remedied more of their ills than a democracy could. If the faction comes into majority, certain inalienable rights can still be maintained in a republic (Madison, 1787).

Key Concepts

The Need for Government to Create Public Goods in Addition to Fostering National Unity

The need for the government to create public goods (plural) is not specifically discussed in The Federalist No. 10, but instead the abstract concept of the public good is described as something that statesman and the republican system of government strive for. All actions taken should be in the interest of promoting the public good, i.e. the best interests of the citizenry. If “public goods” includes parts of the government such as the Department of Justice and the military, there is a clear need for the government to create such things. On the other hand, if public goods refer to charity programs run through the government, that is more debatable, and an issue to be haggled over between political parties.

Certain public services are necessary whichever side of that argument a voter finds themselves on. These would include a military, a system for building roads and promoting transportation (although some of this can be done by the private sector), a justice system including courts, a department of the treasury to collect taxes, and sufficient government facilities to house employees of the state, including representatives of the people. The latter would include meeting areas like the House chamber and Senate chamber.

Beyond these and a few other basic necessities, public goods are optional. Currently, the U.S. has a publicly-run retirement investment system, (Social Security), a public health care system for the poor and elderly (Medicare, Medicaid), a new health mandate that extends health care to any uninsured that wish to have it, as well as multiple government charity programs for the poor, such as welfare. There are significant amounts of optional “public goods” that are provided by the government, after it takes the money to pay for them from the public through taxes. In Madison’s day, the welfare state was a long, long way off.

Distinguishing Republics from Democracies

The great difference between a democracy and a republic is that the people’s will is more “filtered” in the latter. As Madison put it “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.” In other words, in a democracy, the citizens are directly involved in the issues, whereas in a republic, they elect representatives to act for them. In a republic, there is a certain distilling process. The goal is to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial consideration. (Madison, 1787, para 15)

In Madison’s view, this distillation was more equivalent to the public good than if the people made decisions directly themselves. However, he points out that there is a risk for a small group of people to corrupt the public good in a republic, once again citing factions (Madison, 1787). However, he apparently felt that the overall threat from factions was less in a republic than in a democracy. 

In a republic, a citizen does not directly change anything with their vote. In a democracy, there might be a measure to change the national flag from blue to red, and if it received 50.1% of the vote, the flag would become red. In a republic, the citizens would have to vote in politicians who believed the flag should become red, and then these politicians would have to pass it into law. 

Is the U.S. Currently a Democracy? Or is it a Republic?

The U.S. remains a republic, just like it was in Madison’s day. Continuing the example above, in the modern U.S. republic, the citizens that wanted a red flag would need to elect a majority in the House to pass it into law, and then a majority in the Senate (or 60 if certain senators wanted to filibuster the legislation) would also have to pass it, and finally the President would then have to sign it into law. At any step along the way, the process might be disrupted. It is even possible that the Supreme Court might intervene. Thus, we do not live in a democracy.

Not only is the U.S. still a republic, but it might be argued that the will of the people is even more filtered and distilled than ever before. It seems that on many issues, there is a large disconnect between what the will of the people is, and what is allowed to be passed into law. Opinion polls may say one thing, but what the Congress, the President or even the courts decide to do is often just up to them.

It may be that Madison’s fear of bad factions corrupting the republican (small “r”) system (1787) is coming true. Whatever the will of the 320 million American citizens is, 41 senators can block it from becoming law. Five Supreme Court justices can do the same. Other parts of the government may similarly subvert the will of the people. Fortunately, the citizens still possess the right to vote, and can always vote out any politicians that are distorting their will. 

What Madison wrote back then about the republic still applies today. When he pointed out the benefits that a republic might have in best representing the people’s wishes, these benefits are still recognizable. Hopefully, wise and thoughtful people in elected office can shape the people’s will appropriately. The majority of American citizens could (and has been) fooled on any number of issues, which would have turned out badly for the nation if they had been able to directly make these opinions law. On the other hand, politicians must remember that they are there to represent the people’s will and not their own.

Reference

Madison, J. (1787). The Federalist no. 10. The Federalist Papers. University of Oklahoma School of Law. Retrieved from http://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/federalist/federalist-10-19/