LiLiu

Professor Arto Artinian

POL100 (0502): Discussion Board 6.2

June 9, 2021

1. What concept that we have already discussed does “faction” remind you of?

“Faction” reminds me of the concept of ideology, which is a group of people organized together with their own clear political concept.

2. According to Federalist #10 (written by James Madison), what is the source of wealth (private property)? What factor explains why some people get to possess wealth by owning private property, and others don’t (thus remaining poor)? This is a key question, because it shows how the authors of the Constitution thought about the difference between different classes of Americans!

According to Federalist #10, the author expressed that the source of wealth is from the faculties of men, which means the wealth of the rich comes from their ingenuity. The author believes that the rich are born with better talents and genes than the working class. Therefore, the source of wealth is from the ingenuity of some people in the excellent race (whites). In addition, the author James Madison pointed out that the difference between Americans of different classes is that white people are better than Americans of other ethnic groups. Therefore, the wealthy class are almost all white. Also, James Madison explained the reason why the poor whites cannot become rich is because these poor whites are born without the ingenuity of the rich whites, which leads to the poverty of these whites. Therefore, according to Federalist #10, the author James Madison used racism to explain why there are differences between different classes of Americans. 

3. Do you agree with this explanation of wealth and poverty?

I disagree with James Madison’s explanation of wealth and poverty because racism is just an excuse for the rich class to cover up their exploitation of the working class. They don’t want people from the working class to unite to threaten their interests, so the wealthy class will use various reasons to shift the contradiction of the working class against them. Thus, the affluent class uses racism as a tool to split the working class, which increasingly promotes the internal contradictions of the working class, and that achieves the purpose of transferring the contradictions between the rich and the working class. 

4. What is the core mission (“first object”) of the US government? Does this surprise you, does it sound different from what our society today seems to suggest the core mission of the government is? Explain.

The core mission (“first object”) of the US government is to protect the interests of a few wealthy people from the majority of working people. This does not surprise me, because the core of capitalism is a social system based on private property of the means of production. Therefore, factions represented by a small number of wealthy strata naturally want to protect their own interests so that they can retain and increase their wealth. Moreover, this sounds different from the core mission of our social government today because under the leadership of many civil rights movement leaders, more and more civil rights movements make the government feel the pressure of public opinion. Let the wealthy class have to compromise in order to preserve most of their property. Although this is not enough to change the inequality between many classes, it gives the people and the government new goals.

5. Given the discussion in questions 1-4, are you surprised that Federalist #10 is not in favor of democracy, and supports a Republican (representative) form of government? Why would the author dislike a (pure) democratic form of government? Hint: think about how this question connects with the social classes…

I am not surprised that Federalist #10 is not in favor of democracy, and supports a Republican (representative) form of government. Because the republican form of government can protect the interests of their minority white wealthy class and curb the rebellious spirit among the people. Moreover, they can unscrupulously exploit the surplus value of the working class through unequal laws, so that a small number of wealthy white classes can maintain and grow their wealth for a long time. According to “Democracy for the Few,” the author Michael Parenti explained that the Constitution protects a few wealthy classes. The author writes, “They were determined that persons of birth and fortune should control the affairs of the nation and check the ‘leveling impulses’ of the propertyless multitude who composed “the majority faction” (majority class). ‘To secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction,’ wrote James Madison in Federalist No. 10, ‘and at the same time preserve the spirit and form of popular government is then the great object to which our inquiries are directed’”(Parenti, p 3). Therefore, “Federalist #10” by James Madison who dislikes a (pure) democratic form of government.