"By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.
There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects.
There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests."
James Madison is stating that the Faction is a major concern as it can be used to dissent and overpower the control of the government. Factions can be a major threat due to the fact that they are mentioned to be; "A majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion," and what the quote means is that there is more power in the quantity of people because of their common interests, basically a very large unification. Madison even mentions two methods that could be effective against the current situation; one being to eradicate the source of liberty which is important to them. The other is getting all the citizens who are part of the faction to agree and support a common cause that is beneficial to both the government and the people themselves.
The reason as to why I chose this excerpt from the "Federalist No. 10" article, is because it depicts the power of many citizens working together to create a possible threat to the government. James Madison even stated that they could be a threat to the government due to the fact that they are unified together under certain causes. This makes me curious, because that can somewhat relate to what is happening in our current society, once citizens find a similar liking they will work together to try and spread it around. One of the methods in controlling the factions is to get everyone to agree on a common cause or interests, this can be related to the government trying to get everyone to agree on a certain issue through news on the T.V, radio, and even websites, allowing them to control. It is an interesting paragraph because it can be related to society today.
Good job on all the posts so far. I think you are right that this passage applies today as well, and of course the media is so much more powerful today like you said.
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