Is Federalist 10 Still Valid? 9-19-2010, Part Four

 [Continued from "Is Federalist 10 Still Valid? 9-19-2010, Part Three". sch 7/17/2023.]

Let us return to Madison's Federalist 10, and what I say is a world that no longer exists. 

...The smaller the society, the fewer probably will be the distinct parties and interests composing it; the fewer the distinct parties and interests, the more frequently will a majority be found of the same party; and the smaller the number of individuals composing a majority, and the smaller the compass within which they are placed, the more easily will they concert and execute their plans of oppression. Extend the sphere, and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens; or if such a common motive exists, it will be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength, and to act in unison with each other. Besides other impediments, it may be remarked that, where there is a consciousness of unjust or dishonorable purposes, communication is always checked by distrust in proportion to the number whose concurrence is necessary.

I suggest some enterprising political science student research whether voters (and then what particular voters) put more emphasis on local, state ideological issues. For all my assertions of us having unmoored ourselves from Madison's localities, I know of no empirical evidence supporting me. [I still have this ignorance. sch 7/17/2023.]

From my last quote, I would point out we have two political parties without the smaller society. We extended our government across a continent without multiplying political parties or political interests in such a way as to dilute factions.

Or did we have dilution, and now we have consolidation? Modern media brings us all closer nationally than locally. (How local is your local paper? When did you last attend a city or county council meeting?) Add to Fox and MSNBC, the blogs and social media, and you may know more about someone across the country than next door.

We have returned to an age of ideological parties. We have been here before, but when did the ideological have such a hold on the popular imagination? William Jennings Bryan's Cross of Gold speech did not get him elected. That a particular ideology may be impractical, unattainable, or even loony, does not matter.

Ideology only serves its adherents. When those adherents grow large enough, they become a political force. When the ideology becomes more important than the public good, it becomes Madisonian faction.

sch

[Continued in "Is Federalist 10 Still Valid? 9-19-2010, Part Five." sch 7/17/2023.]