This word means many things to many people. There is no way to distinctly define the term without leaving someone's crucial point of view out of the equation. One person might say that anarchy would be the only way to have complete and utter freedom, while others would go as far as to believe a controlled communist government is the best route to achieving liberation. Factions (a group of people who agree on certain topics) are inevitable, due to the nature of man. As long as men hold different opinions, have different amounts of wealth, and own different amount of property, they will continue to fraternize with people who are most similar to them. In Federalist #10, James Madison summed up factions eloquently stating that “Liberty is faction, what air is to fire, an ailment without which it instantly expires.” The government created by the Constitution controls the damage caused by such factions. The likelihood that public office will be held by qualified men is greater in large countries because there will be more representative chosen by a greater number of citizens. Power is distributed in a checks and balance format, making it difficult for factions to completely take over. Madison’s views on faction are still relevant and exercised frequently even after 200 years have passed. James Madison’s most amazing political prediction, contained within the pages of Federalist 10, was that the United States being so large and having such a wide variety of interests could make a guarantee of fairness and constancy under the new constitution. The bigger the government, the less control factions are going to play in making decisions for the majority of the people. The only way to manage faction is to remove its causes and to control its effects. By removing its causes Madison believes that liberty will be destroyed, or that by giving every citizen the same opinions, passions, and interests, would be impossible b...
