Publius started off the Federalist with a discussion of the international dangers associated with rejecting the Constitution; then he moved to national – that is, continent-wide – dangers; now, in F10, his focus is on localities. Specifically, the dangers of localized factionalism.

Madison, the author of F10, apparently shares in the Founding Fathers’ famous dislike of political faction. F10 defines a faction as “a number of citizens . . . who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” Madison describes such groups as “sinister.” In listing examples of their “improper and wicked project[s],” he comes up with:

(1) “An abolition of debts.” 2008 mortgage lenders might agree this is improper, wicked, and sinister.

(2) “An equal division of property.” Whether you like the extreme version (communism) or the mild version (socialism) – this faction has had a lot of staying power.

(3) “A rage for paper money.” Horrors! Presumably Madison fears the type of reckless money printing that would devalue the currency and cause 24,000% inflation, like in Zimbabwe.*

Most of F10 is a discussion about why a large Republic – as opposed to a small Republic or, worse, a pure Democracy – is best suited to keep a lid on the evils of faction.

Why is a republic better than pure democracy? Because a republic has a body of elected representatives, whose job is to “refine and enlarge the public views” by serving as a body “whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice, will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations.” I guess Congress could be said to do this . . . sometimes . . .

Why is a large republic better than a small republic? “Extend the sphere, and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens.” Madison also revives Jay’s argument from F3 that the greater your pool of citizens, the higher the quality of people who will rise to the top through popular elections. (We’re skeptical of that, since it is not clear that the qualities it takes to become massively popular are the same as the qualities it takes to be a good holder of power.)

This latter discussion raises an interesting question – the kind of myriad of political factions envisioned in F10 seems to match up more closely with the type of system that has evolved in Italy or Israel, where there are tons of little parties, and they always have to cobble together a coalition to get anything done at all. Is this kind of political system more true to the Founders’ vision than the two-party system that has evolved in America? If so, does this mean the Founders were getting it wrong – or, conversely, are Israel and Italy just better governed than America?

* Zimbabwe’s inflation is the worst in the world. The second worst, Myanmar, is 40%, which sounds fantastic by comparison. Click here for a description of how that crazy inflation rate translates on the ground.

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