“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.” James Madison, Federalist 51.
What is the difficulty that Madison is referring to? To answer this question we must look at the difficulties that this government faces with the administration of government as men over men. Some of these key reasons are: men all have their own interests and opinions, too much power given to the government to enforce laws, and primary control.
Men all have their own interest and own opinions. In the Federalist papers No. 10 James Madison states “Pure Democracy is the most vile form of government…” this meaning that if only the people rule, there would be too much personal opinion put into the decisions made and laws that are given. As Judge Scalia said it is his personal opinion that flag burning should not be allowed. However, he goes on, as a constitutional right flag burning should be allowed as stated in amendment one referring to freedom of speech. Referring back to Madison, as Judge Scalia demonstrated, personal opinion is not ideal in government therefore Pure Democracy is vile.
Too much power is given to the government when men govern men. When there are no principles to set up checks and balances, personal opinion is the hardest thing to combat against in government. Without the principles needed to stop this “Pure Democracy” there would be too much power given to a single man, or a group of men, and the people would rule. Democracy with a combination of a Republic is the best form of government because there isn’t an overwhelming amount of personal opinion, and there isn’t a lot of high amounts of government control
Primary Control is popular sovereignty voting-we chose the men that are governing us. But is this the best form of government according to James Madison? Madison stated in Federalist 51 “A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.” Some of those Auxiliary Precautions are Division of Power and Separation of Power.
These Auxiliary Precautions are the way Madison believes the Constitution solves the difficulties. Beginning with the Division of Power which is defined as the difference between National government and state government stated in the 10th amendment also known as Federalism. Going back to Federalist 51 James Madison said “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.” This statement is referring to the Federal vs. the State Government and shows the Auxiliary Precautions and Checks and Balances that are necessary to solve the difficulties of men governing men.
Finally the Separation of Power which is the Checks and Balances between the three branches of government. With this system no one branch can have full power. There is a distinct authority between each branch and each has their own responsibilities given to them. Each can check each other and make sure no one is doing anything out of their field. Another check is created within the Legislature because there are two houses within that branch. The senate can make sure the house isn’t doing anything wrong and the house can in turn do the same thing.
As a summary the difficulties with men governing men are: men have their own interests, too much power is given to the government, and primary control. The way to fix these difficulties is through Auxiliary Precautions such as The Division of Power, and the Separation of Power.
