Why the Government Works

The Federalist #10

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 it imparts to fire its destructive agency.

In the passage Madison is emphasizing his point that rather then trying to get rid off all factions, which is surely impossible, factions should be embraced. Although factions can cause turmoil and trouble they are an integral part of the government because they are what make it great. The different view points and goals each faction brings make it so the government has to create something grander and perhaps better than they would have if it had just one, unanimous party. Even though the compromises made to satisfy the majority of the factions won't be a hundred percent loved by all the factions, it will still be a reflection of the popular will. To have one faction would mean no evolvement and if the government isn't changing to reflect popular sovereignty then it will self-destruct. 

The effect of the first difference is, on the one hand, to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, 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. Under such a regulation, it may well happen that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves, convened for the purpose.

Madison is comparing the differences in delegation between a true democracy and a republic. It is his opinion that a republic would be a much more effective way of collecting the public opinion and presenting it refined, cohesive way. In this way the representatives can sift through the irrelevant to get to what will actually help the country and its interest in the long run. Madison's basic idea is that a representative will be able to pull out the central needs of the people from having heard all sides instead the people expressing those needs themselves. It wouldn't work to have the people declaring their own needs because those needs would be based on "temporary or partial considerations" meaning that they would base their needs on their own personal situation not the country's overall situation. 

The Federalist #51

But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? 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.

In the passage Madison explains why it is necessary to both divide the government into separate branches and give them each incentive to not join forces. If there was only one single branch of the government it would easily be corrupted by the people in it, who would be trying to push the government where they wanted to for their own personal gain. The separation of powers makes it so each branch has to keep each other honest so that no one branch gets ahead of the others. This is the idea The government having the ability to control itself and keep everything in as it is suppose to be is a vital part of a government's ability to function because otherwise the government would be too unstable to actually rule the people, who wouldn't want to be ruled by that kind of corrupt, inept government anyway. 

In a single republic, all the power surrendered by the people is submitted to the administration of a single government; and the usurpations are guarded against by a division of the government into distinct and separate departments. In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.

In the passage Madison expresses the idea that a government with checks and balances would add layers of security to the people. If the government were to become centralized there was the very real possibility that it would become like a tyrannical monarch. This type of government would obviously not be very good about protecting the people's rights because it would be too busy protecting itself. Giving separate branch distinct powers which are kept in check by other branches and also having different departments within those branches further protects the people who they themselves have to allow the branches to rule over them.