Why the American Government Works-A Few Reasons

These are my original posts with an additional two added on.  There are some strange formatting errors because I coppied and Pasted from Word but hopefully it is legible.

“This policy of supplying, by opposite and rival interests, the defect of better motives, might be traced through the whole system of human affairs, private as well as public. We see it particularly displayed in all the subordinate distributions of power, where the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be a check on the other -- that the private interest of every individual may be a sentinel over the public rights. These inventions of prudence cannot be less requisite in the distribution of the supreme powers of the State” (Federalist #51).
            
             In this quote, Madison is telling us how important it is to the American government to have and maintain its distribution of powers.  Once referred to as a “separation of powers” by the French Enlightenment political philosopher Barron de Montesquieu, this ancient idea has become a central component of many democracies.  It encompasses a separation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government. The hope is that they will be able to check each other and thus, as Montesquieu believed, secure liberty for the people and prevent a government from becoming corrupt.  In America, an example of one branch of the government abusing its power and then later being stopped by another branch involves Iran Contra.  When President Reagan, as leader of the executive branch, wanted to fund his programs in fighting communism, he deviously bypassed the congress which is responsible for funding such covert foreign policy operations.  Later on, the legislative branch of the government was able to investigate and prosecute the executive branch, showing an example of how one branch of the government can check another.

“If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote. It may clog the administration, it may convulse the society; but it will be unable to execute and mask its violence under the forms of the Constitution. When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens” (Federalist #10).

One of the reasons that the American government works is because when a majority makes a ruling over a minority, the minority does not lose its rights.  America’s entire judicial system would not work properly if a prosecuted person could not maintain his rights.  Up until the 1960s the majority of people in the South wanted maintain segregation between Blacks and Whites.  Civil rights laws had to be established to protect the Black minority from the injustices of the White majority.

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions” (Federalist #51).

            The people within a democracy give up some of their rights in return for legal protection from crime and other sorts of abuse.  Men are not Angels so they need a government, and that is just one way in which the people and government rely on one another and work together.  The people depend on the government to enforce their rights and the government depends on the people to vote to pass laws and elect candidates.  A government must also restrict itself to its duties without abusing its power.  The American government works because it relies on the mutual gains of working together.  In addition, the government’s power is limited so that it can not abuse the people.

“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” (Federalist #10).

            In this brief statement, Madison is expressing how important it is for U.S. government to be a strong body.  One of the reasons that the American government works is because, for the most part, all of its branches work together. There are no influential factions that rival the main governmental body government.  Madison realized the importance of a government without parties conspiring against one another, which is the reason the present government keeps a keen eye out for any such happenings.