Madisonian Dilemma

The Madisonian Dilemma has been apart of American politics since the beginning of its creation. Since the existence of factions this difficult problem had arisen. How does one set up a government "that preserves individual liberty without destroying the freedoms that make it possible?" Madison thought of two different ways to deal with this dilemma; one get rid of factions all together or two to control their effects. Being as getting rid of factions is near impossible; Madison chose the latter by saying that we need a republican form of government. The Madisonian Dilemma is encountered every day in American politics and there are many factors that impact it.

One subject that contributes to the Madisonian Dilemma is the existence of political parties and interest groups. The whole creation of the Madisonian Dilemma was do to the creation of factions such as political parties and interest groups. These factions contribute to the Madisonian Dilemma by the idea of a majority party or interest group. How does one make sure that one single party or group does not become in control without taking away certain liberties that they have the rights to? It's a difficult question to answer. Madison thought hard about this and suggested a separation of powers as an answer. This would make it so that no single party could take over or no single interest group could influence the whole government by being able to control each and every power, making it one power. Still, though, today political parties contribute to the Madisonian Dilemma.

Another factor that impacts the Madisonian Dilemma is Federalism. Federalism is a political system in which regional governments share power with the national government. By creating sovereign state governments there is now more separation in powers thus detracting from the Madisonian Dilemma. No one single faction can have total power. If no one single faction can have total power then it makes it easier to control their effects thus bringing us one step closer to Madison's answer to his Dilemma. The only disadvantage to these sovereign state governments is that they make they political world move very slowly and inefficiently.

A last contribution to the Madisonian Dilemma is elections. Elections push partisan agenda and create rifts in the political world. This is natural and not necessarily bad but it does contribute to the Madisonian Dilemma. If partisanship is pushed then there is