Political Parties Essay
Nicholas Raad
AP Government
Ms. Christine Soderquist
31 March 2015 Political Parties
The founding father’s created our country on the basis of democracy, where the people had the power to rule their own country. As political parties began to emerge, the founding father’s initial theory of democracy began to be tainted by the very coalitions and factions they tried to prevent. It becomes almost painstakingly clear that the two party system has undermined the Constitution, and furthered our country from the democracy that our framers created. Even before our country was created, the framers of the Constitution were very adamant in their distrust of political parties, and the negative effects that they can have on our country.
Thomas Jefferson said it best when he stated that, “ a democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fiftyone percent of the people may take away the rights of the other fortynine.” We see this happening in our modern government very consistently. Where one party controls the House of Representatives or the Senate, and only passes legislation that that party wants. This undermines the basis on democracy, in where the all the people should have the power, but in
reality, only a small fraction of the people end up having the power over the rest of the country.
James Madison also addresses the question on how to defend against
“factions”, or groups of citizens, with interests contrary to the rights of others or the interests of the whole community, in his Federalist Paper 10. Madison writes in the paper that “Faction is human nature. The most durable cause of faction is unequal property distribution. Regulating conflicting interests involves partisanship and faction” and later in the paper “People look to government for the protection of property and to regulate the competing interests concerning property.” The
Federalist Paper 10 further demonstrate the knowledge that, factions are always going to exist,
AP Government
Ms. Christine Soderquist
31 March 2015 Political Parties
The founding father’s created our country on the basis of democracy, where the people had the power to rule their own country. As political parties began to emerge, the founding father’s initial theory of democracy began to be tainted by the very coalitions and factions they tried to prevent. It becomes almost painstakingly clear that the two party system has undermined the Constitution, and furthered our country from the democracy that our framers created. Even before our country was created, the framers of the Constitution were very adamant in their distrust of political parties, and the negative effects that they can have on our country.
Thomas Jefferson said it best when he stated that, “ a democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fiftyone percent of the people may take away the rights of the other fortynine.” We see this happening in our modern government very consistently. Where one party controls the House of Representatives or the Senate, and only passes legislation that that party wants. This undermines the basis on democracy, in where the all the people should have the power, but in
reality, only a small fraction of the people end up having the power over the rest of the country.
James Madison also addresses the question on how to defend against
“factions”, or groups of citizens, with interests contrary to the rights of others or the interests of the whole community, in his Federalist Paper 10. Madison writes in the paper that “Faction is human nature. The most durable cause of faction is unequal property distribution. Regulating conflicting interests involves partisanship and faction” and later in the paper “People look to government for the protection of property and to regulate the competing interests concerning property.” The
Federalist Paper 10 further demonstrate the knowledge that, factions are always going to exist,