Friday's Quotation

Here's a passage from the famous letter by James Madison, one of the chief authors of the Constitution, known as Federalist Paper No. 10, in which he addresses the issue of factionalism:

"If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is
supplied by the republican principle, which enables the
majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote: It
may clog the administration, it may convulse the society;
but it will be unable to execute and mask its violence
under the forms of the constitution. When a majority is
included in a faction, the form of popular government
on the other hand enables it to sacrifice its ruling passion
or interest, both the public good and the rights of other
citizens. To secure the public good, and private rights
against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time
to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government,
is then the great object to which our enquiries are directed.
Let me add that it is the great desideratum, by which alone
this form of government can be rescued from the
opprobrium under which it has so long labored,
and be recommended to the esteem and
adoption of mankind."