Madison and Federalist #10

With all that is happening in Washington, DC, I think it prudent to discuss Federalist #10. Written by James Madison in November of 1787, Federalist #10 discusses the subject of factions.

“Among the numerous advantages promised by a well constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed, than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction... The instability, injustice, and confusion, introduced into the public councils, have, in truth, been the mortal diseases under which popular governments have everywhere perished; as thy continue to be the favorite and fruitful topics from which the adversaries to liberty drive their most specious declamations... our governments are too unstable; that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties; and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice, and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.

“By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or the the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.

“There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects.

“There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence, the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.”

What was Madison saying here? When a country is a strong union, one of the advantages that should be developed is a way to keep a faction from becoming too strong and violent. When a faction becomes too powerful it will instill instability, injustice, and confusion into the government; that, throughout history, that instability, injustice, and confusion has been the downfall of governments and are the favorite and useful tools that adversaries of liberty are wont to use.

When he speaks that our governments (meaning of the several states) were too unstable without a central, unionizing government, and that the good of the public was not taken into consideration because of the conflicts between political parties; that legislation and policy too often is decided by force of the majority party outside the rules of justice and forsaking the rights of the minority party.

When a group of people is united in a cause, whether they are the majority or not, inspired by a common passion, there is no thought of the rights or interests of other people it is a faction.

There are two ways of curing the effects of a faction: one, by removing the reasons, the passion, of the faction, and the other is to control the outcome. Madison went on to say that there are two ways to remove the causes of the faction. One, by destroying the liberties that actually allow the faction to operate, and the other to force everyone to believe as the faction does.

If we were to remove the liberties we have, the right to free speech, freedom of the press, the right to peaceably assemble and to petition the government, any faction would no longer be able to operate. This is not what the Founders wanted. They put those rights into the Constitution because they had, themselves, been deprived of those rights. Without the freedom to voice our opinions, to print our thoughts, assemble to protest and petition the government, we would lose the ability to debate, to grow, to learn. In other words – we would stagnate and become automatons, mindless serfs. This would be much worse than having a number of people out there spouting their rhetoric to the masses.

To force another's opinion onto the masses would be even worse. We need to be about to have different opinions. The government cannot legislate how a person thinks or believes. At least not in any kind of free society. So what would be the best way to subdue a violent faction? There is no way. People will always have differences because of differing cultures, religions, etc. All we can do is try to keep the damage at a minimum.

But, if you take what is going on today with the faction of far-left radical liberalism, the animosity toward the President and his policies, the fight against our Constitution and our freedoms, can you see what Madison was talking about? Do you see the prophetic statements about how a faction will do what it can against the rights and interests of others, no matter how unjust, to have their way? What are the far-left radicals doing in Washington, DC, and have been for the last three years? The Trump Derangement Syndrome is escalating daily.

It was less than 48 hours after the election when the left started talking about impeaching Donald Trump. He hadn't even taken office yet. What made it worse is that the mainstream media, such as the New York Times and CNN, were right there with them. The propaganda that Trump had to be impeached went on every day, 24 hours a day. This is the faction, the confusion, the violence that Madison warned us about. This anti-Trump faction doesn't care about what their actions are doing to the country as a whole. All they care about is getting rid of a duly elected President because he was not supposed to win.

Madison continued, “No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause; because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity. With equal, nay, with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties, at the same time;” Does this maybe state why Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Elijah Cummings, etc. should not be investigating their illegal impeachment inquiry? They are but judges and parties in this scheme. Their interests are definitely biased and their integrity has been corrupted. It is painfully obvious when Mr Schiff stands before the House of Representatives and recites a transcript of the President's conversation with the President of Ukraine that is totally fabricated.

Madison continues to explain that in a pure democracy, the faction, if it is the majority, will win the day. That is the main reason that the Founders set up our country as a Constitutional Republic. We are not a democracy. We have elected officials to represent our wants and needs. This is the only way that a majority faction can be controlled. We need to let our representatives know what we want and need. It is their job to represent us in the central government. If the majority faction is going against the rights and liberties of the whole, it is only through equal representation that the minority can have a voice and keep those rights and liberties.

Yes, the House of Representatives is controlled by the Democrat Party. There are a number of Republicans that have sided with the Democrats. The question is: Are these representatives actually representing what the people want? Do the people of the country, as a whole, want to impeach a President that is up for re-election in a little over a year? Wouldn't it be more prudent to let the country decide next November if Donald Trump should stay in office or not?

If the House continues down the path of impeachment, it will go to the Senate for trial. The Senate, being Republican-controlled, will hear the evidence and vote whether to expel the President from office or to allow him to continue as Commander-in-Chief. It really doesn't matter what the House decides.

We have entered into very dark times. For the last three years, the Democrats have changed rules on a lot of different things just so they could find something, anything, against the President. What they have actually done is made it to where any President can be thwarted by Circuit Courts, undermined by planted spies, impeached just because the opposing party doesn't like him/her. In effect, the Democrat Party has bastardized the Constitution into a weapon when needed, ignored when needed. The House has become the authoritarian dictator that they claim Trump is.

Let's take a little trip down memory lane. Remember when Congress subpoenaed over thirty-thousand emails and the private server they were stored on; when phones were smashed with hammers and the SIM cards taken out; when computers were wiped clean with BleachBit? Do you also remember when the FBI director exonerated the perpetrator in that little debacle?

Do you remember when people screamed and cried because the wrong candidate won the Electoral College and then the opposition party declared that candidate used foreign interference to win the election? How about when, not even 48 hours after the election, the opposition party started yelling impeachment? Do you remember an investigation that lasted over two years with a special prosecutor looking for a crime to impeach a duly elected president?

Then there was a phone call from the President to the President of Ukraine congratulating him on his wins and, as an after-thought, the President asking if Ukraine could look into an American Vice-President's son being put on the Board of Directors of a Ukrainian gas and oil company with no experience in the gas and oil industry and the then Vice-President strong-arming the Ukrainian government to fire a prosecutor looking into it or they wouldn't receive a billion dollars in foreign aid. That started an impeachment inquiry against the President; no full House vote, only Democrats involved in questioning and calling witnesses and done behind closed doors without any chance of cross-examination or the President's attorneys present.

Everything that the Democrats have accused Trump of doing is exactly what they have done. They accused him of colluding with the Russians to win the election. It was the Clinton Campaign and the DNC that bought an unverified dossier against Trump from a former foreign spy that got it from the Russians. The Democrats accused Trump of obstruction of justice yet it was Clinton that destroyed her phones and computers and deleted over thirty-thousand emails that were subpoenaed by Congress. The Democrats accuse Trump of strong-arming the Ukrainian government to interfere in the 2020 election yet it was Vice-President Joe Biden that admitted to withholding a billion dollars of foreign aid if the Ukrainians didn't fire their head prosecutor investigating Burisma Holdings for corruption; a company that Hunter Biden, Joe's son, was paid fifty thousand dollars a month from for being on their Board of Directors. Hunter Biden had no experience or knowledge of oil and gas or of Ukraine yet he got this job while his father was Vice-President of the United States.

Is there a faction at work here? It was common knowledge that Donald Trump would not win the 2016 election and that Hillary Clinton would win. When Mrs. Clinton lost, it started the Trump Derangement Syndrome and Anti-Trump campaign. It didn't matter what policy Trump wanted to institute, the Democrats thwarted him. They used the 9^th Circuit Court to stymie any attempt to stop the flow of illegals into our country, to stop his ban on immigration from enemy countries, to stop him from doing anything that needed to be done to protect the country. Since the 2018 election, when the Democrats won the House, nothing has gotten done except for investigation after investigation, accusation after accusation, obstruction on any bill presented, and now, impeachment proceedings. Why? It would seem simply because Hillary Clinton didn't win the election.

The Democrat Party is so intent on power and getting rid of Donald Trump that they have gone so far as to suggest impeaching Vice-President Mike Pence first and forcing Trump to appoint a VP to their liking then finish the impeachment of him. If Trump refuses to appoint their choice for VP, then Nancy Pelosi would become President and the Democrats would have their power. At least until next November. To keep the White House, the Democrats want to do away with the Electoral College thus making 95% of the country's voters invalid. After all, the two most populated states are New York and California, both deep blue states. Add Illinois in there, also a blue state, and the conservative voice is silenced.

The Democrats also want to stack the Supreme Court with liberal Justices. For decades the Democrats have used the Supreme Court to legislate into law their far-left policies. With a mostly originalist Court, they won't be able to get their policy into law since they aren't able to actually legislate it into law. Unfortunately, it isn't the Court's duty to legislate, only to judicate.

Yes, this is the faction that Madison warned about. It is dangerous to our republic and our way of life. Unchecked, this faction would do away with our most cherished rights and freedoms. They have already effectively silenced the conservative voice through censorship in social media, propaganda in mainstream media, indoctrination in education, and political correctness. Through their actions against Donald Trump and his associates, they have done away with the presumption of innocence and the rule of law. They are fighting a war against the Second Amendment, effectively doing away with it through regulation. Every presidential candidate on the Democrat ticket has stated they want to raise taxes up to 97%, do away with capitalism, open our borders to any and everyone, and most terrifying, turn our Constitutional Republic into a Socialist State.

The chaos and violence of this faction are growing. It is propagandized by the mainstream media, taught in public schools, celebrated in entertainment, and forced down our throats by our elected officials. Only through due diligence can we turn this tide. Only through forcing our representatives to actually represent us can we stop this threat to our rights and freedoms. It is up to the rightful owners of the government, of the country, to keep America true to her heritage. A heritage that was fought for with the blood of thousands. Only we can prevent socialism from taking over and destroying the greatest country on Earth.