The early 2020’s have already poked a new hole in Federalist No. 10

James Madison argues two important points in this paper.

One is that in a so-called pure democracy, society “has no cure for the mischiefs of faction,” such as falling victim to populist strongmen or the oppression by a dominant party.

The other is that the solution to this issue lies in the representative government of a republic.

These papers played an important role in shaping the language of the United States Constitution. About 230 years later, on January 6, it was demonstrated that representative government is not a stalwart defense against “the mischiefs of faction.” The United States has developed a faction which is committed to strongman ideology, and the general factionalism attitude has left Congress more or less incapable of performing their duties.

Part five of Nine Months of Non-Fiction.