Pros And Cons Of Direct Democracy

Words: 1269
Pages: 6
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Lexi Reamer
PSC 2302
Professor Mathie
Essay Prompt #1
October 12, 2016
ESSAY 1
America’s founders initially believed in pure democracy but when the Constitution was drafted many figured that pure democracy could result in dangerous problems. Pure democracy, also known as direct democracy, is a type of democracy governed by the people where all the people make the decisions. James Madison was a federalist against pure democracy because he believed there were many dangers that occurred when this type of democracy was put in place. These dangers included the people loosing freedom, the promotion of a central power with out meaning to, the states being unequally represented, and the lack of unity amongst states. Ultimately, James Madison believed …show more content…
One particular issue Madison felt could result in the formation of factions was the accumulation of land. This represented people gaining more power solely due to wealth. Therefore, this would create a society that had a faction of the rich and a faction of the poor. He believed factions were inevitable no matter how the government was run. He wanted to avoid factions being created because of the detrimental consequence of factions resulting in the destruction of the democracy. In the federalist 10 papers Madison says, “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.”(Federalist 10., 2) Madison alludes to the idea that factions in the United States are unavoidable if the people want to have a say in government. This is because factions were inevitable when people were given liberty. “Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment [something that nourishes or feeds] without which it instantly expires,” (Federalist 10., 2). The meaning of this quote and what Madison is trying to say is that the effects of factions are what need to be addressed, not the initial cause of factions. The initial causes of these factions is liberty that which should not be taken away, yet the effect of liberty needs to be controlled to …show more content…
While Madison hated factions not agreeing with them and saw problems with unequal representation among states he was willing to compromise through the Virginia Plan. James Madison thought the solution was to propose a republican form of government instead of a democracy. In order to prevent domination by majority, James Madison thought a republic would decrease potential factions and their affects on society while guarding against losses of freedom. The loss of freedom and submission to tyranny was exactly what James Madison was running away from when leaving England, so naturally he had a different idea of what the government should look
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