In terms of a counter story being a story that challenges the established dominant narrative, we can see this being used by the U.S. government in establishing narratives that favor certain political parties in order to either build rapport or discredit other parties. This blog will be an analysis for how the rise of faction’s through political parties in recent times goes against the established perspective fearing the rise of factions established in Federalist 10 by James Madison.
Federalist 10 written by James Madison argues the fear and need to combat the rise of factions in a growing republic democracy. In the papers, Madison defines factions as this, “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, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community” (The Avalon Project, Fed 10). By this definition, as readers and citizens we can assume that political parties especially the way they present themselves now, as the only two options in the electoral system, are a number of citizens united amounting to a majority or minority who are united in passion for a specific interest. The political two-party system was not established with the constitution, and there by was not directed supported by the federalist paper writers.
James Madison wrote Federalist 10, for the purpose of warning against factions and the rise of a majority that could oppress the minority. Although in this point in time, there is a supermajority in the branches of government with the republican party controlling all 3. The majority defined as “Unified government”, “Unified government (also known as party government) occurs when one party has control over the executive branch (President) and the legislative branch (both the House and Senate)” (Social Studies Lab). Although in this case, it is one step further since there are more supreme justices appointed by the republican party than the democratic. With this clear majority for the Republican party, it makes it magnitudes easier to pass and filter through certain laws that favor their status in government and political party alliances. Despite this Madison believed it to be more difficult to corrupt and oppress minorities dependent on the size of the society, “The smaller the society, the fewer probably will be the distinct parties and interests composing it; the fewer the distinct parties and interests, the more frequently will a majority be found of the same party; and the smaller the number of individuals composing a majority, and the smaller the compass within which they are placed, the more easily will they concert and execute their plans of oppression” (The Avalon Project, Fed 10).
The current state of political parties not only goes against the will established by Madison in Federalist 10, but establishes new precedent where if your familiarity and control of the government in multiple branches is enough, you can oppress the opposing party regardless if you have a majority or not.
https://socialstudieslab.org/vocab/mt4jjrsrmfm9lws-yrpgg-8nhd3-b39fd-4n6h9-n58j6-sw9xe
Jack Jones 