Has the United States, with its constitutional limits, federalism, separation of powers, and checks and balances, been successful at tempering and controlling political faction? To the untrained eye of the average American citizen, it would appear so, but upon further dissection of our democratic political system, "the branches of our national government seem to be suffering a prolonged identity crisis". (Charles R. Kesler 2007) As laid down by our Founding Fathers, the legislative branch is to pass laws, the executive branch executes said laws, and the judiciary branch interprets each law as they pertain to individual cases. However, more and more polarizing views advanced by particular factions continue to steer politics and the American government toward group and personal interests rather than general welfare. .
President Abraham Lincoln's famous words, "A house divided against itself cannot stand", come to mind when discussing the current state of affairs within our modern government. It is true that Lincoln's message was originally intended to address the division of slave and slave-free states, but these words ring no less true when applied to the division of American politics between parties of interest. The Founding Fathers knew what we know now, that humans will always form groups centering on areas of common interest, and as James Madison stated in the Federalist Papers No. 10, "There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects.the first remedy(is)worse than the disease." We will never be able to perfectly eradicate factions within a bi-partisan democracy, as it is in the name and to do so would result in a nonpartisan democracy, so we must focus on controlling the effects.
The effects of this so-called interest group warfare that characterizes democratic politics are apparent in every single election, session of Congress, passed bill, etcetera, etcetera as each element of our political system is influenced, if not controlled, by factions, mainly the Democrat and Republican parties.
