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, 5 he same passions, and 53 same interests.
It could never be more
truly said than of the first remedy, that it was worse than the disease.
Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it
instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is
essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to
wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life because its imparts
to fire its destructive agency.
These
paragraphs come from the article “The Federalist No. 10” by James Madison. The
first paragraph is talking about ways to remove faction which is defined as a small, organized,
dissenting group within a larger one, especially in politics or a state of
conflict within an organization; dissension. One of the ways that faction could be destroyed is by
destroying freedom, because without freedom there would be no faction. The
other way to destroy faction would be to make everyone the same, force them ALL
to have the same interests and beliefs, similar to a dictatorship. But in this
case the cure for the problem is worse than the actual disease. The writer
makes an example of the importance of freedom to faction by comparing it to the
bon between air and fire. The bond between the two is very important, without
air there would be no fire and without freedom there will be no faction, hence
they can’t exist. Faction plays a big role in politics. If air doesn’t exist
there would be no fire, which may be a good this but there also wouldn’t be any
life, which isn’t a good thing. Its just like if the government gets rid of
freedom, yes it would be getting rid of politics and faction but it will make
life not worth living.
These
paragraphs are important to me because I believe freedom is very important. I
grew up the only girl out of four boys, and my older brother was very
overprotective. While my brothers where able to go outside and do whatever they
wanted I was to stay home, when I went to school I had to go straight home,
until I was 16 years old then I got a 9pm curfew. A few months after I turned
18years old I rebelled and I moved out of my house. So if freedom is taken from
all of us, it will cause people to rebel. We need our freedom and like James
Madison said air is essential to life, freedom is essential to life also. Yes
this will also keep faction and politics alive too but it’s worth it. The government
of the United States of America has created a system that allows people to
choose their own parties and if that means debate then so be it. Rather than
have no freedom, no faction and hence no politics. It’s worth keeping it all
rather than loosing FREEDOM.
Good job on all the posts so far. It was interesting how you related the idea of factions to your own life.
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