An Opinion on Why the United States Form of Government Works

"It must be confessed that in this, as in most other cases, there is a mean, on both sides of which inconveniences will be found to lie. By enlarging too much the number of electors, you render the representatives too little acquainted with all their local circumstances and lesser interests; as by reducing it too much, you render him unduly attached to these, and too little fit to comprehend and pursue great and national objects. The federal Constitution forms a happy combination in this respect; the great and aggregate interests being referred to the national, the local and particular to the State legislatures".-James Madison, the Federalist Number 10

In this excerpt from James Madison's essay, the Federalist Number 10, Madison explains how the structure of the United States government makes it work fluidly.  In the beginning of the paragraph, he explains that if the government is too large, it cannot be acquainted with small and local orders of business, and if the government is too small, it cannot complete great national tasks.  In his opinion, the government must find a happy medium.  Madison then states, "The federal Constitution forms a happy combination in this respect". Madison believes that the United States has created a government which is able to attend to local orders of business while still being able to complete national concerns.  He explains by saying, "the great and aggregate interests being referred to the national, the local and particular to the State legislatures".  The United States has dealt with the problem of not being to small and too large by creating two seperate legislatures, one that deals with the large national issues, and one that deals with the small local concerns.

"In order to lay a due foundation for that separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government, which to a certain extent is admitted on all hands to be essential to the preservation of liberty, it is evident that each department should have a will of its own; and consequently should be so constituted that the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the others".-James Madison, the Federalist Number 51

In James Madison's essay, he explains another reason that the US government is successful: "a due foundation for that separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government".  A key to the American form of government is due to the fact that not all the power of the government is in one branch, it is split between the executive, the judicial, and the legislative branches.  Baron de Montesquieu first came up with the idea of separation of powers and the 3 branches of government, and the United States decided to adopt his idea.

"Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and private faith, and of public and personal liberty, that 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".-James Madison, the Federalist Number 10

James Madison believes that it is not possible for a government to make everyone happy, because, "Complaints are everywhere heard".  No matter what the policy of government, it is not possible for a government to please everyone involved, so the job of a government is not to make sure that everyone in the country is satisfied, however, it is the job of government to represent everyone in society, and make sure that what the majority of society wants is given, if it is in the best interest of the country.  While there will always be a loser in every political issue, and the loser will always feel that they were not represented fairly, as long as everyone is truly represented in the government, then the government will function.

"It is equally evident, that the members of each department should be as little dependent as possible on those of the others, for the emoluments annexed to their offices. Were the executive magistrate, or the judges, not independent of the legislature in this particular, their independence in every other would be merely nominal".-James Madison, the Federalist Number 51

Earlier in his essay, Madison explains that one of the keys to a successful American government is its 3 branch system of government.  In this excerpt, Madison explains that each branch of government must be independent of the others to make the system work.  The 3 branch system of government is successful because it keeps too much power away form one group of people, however, if one branch of government becomes dependent on another, "their independence in every other would be merely nominal".  In this, he means that if one branch is dependent on another, than the independence of that government is not true in reality, only by name.