Why Does the American Form of Government work?

No.10
"No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity. With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time"

In the Federalist Papers 10, it is clear that our author, James Madison intends to inform the audience on what the true and best form of government is. Within this specific passage, however, he basically is stating that the best form of government is a democracy because that one sole leader or one body of people cannot judge all by themselves. The result of any government that is run in such a way is corruption. As an example of this was Robespierre, one of the main leaders of the French Revolution. While in the beginning, his intentions were clear and just, but towards the end of the revolution, he himself became power hungry and corrupt in his attempts to keep any power that the people had granted him. Opposed to the disaster that resulted in Robespierre, the American form of government democracy clearly works, we have been using it for the past 200 years. Checks and balances prevent those with power within the government from doing whatever they want while also taking account of what the people living in the United States want.

No. 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."

Again, Madison writes in Federalist Papers 51. Here he states that the government is dependent on the people, nearly just as the dependent as the people are to the government. The way democracy works create balance and are fair. While undoubtedly not everyone will be happy with the results produced, evidence of this seen in the most recent presidential election, in the end, the people still cannot complain. While corruption does exist within the government, like I said earlier, checks and balances prevent corrupt figures from carrying out with what he or she wants to act on.



https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=10&page=transcript