Federalist Papers

FEDERALIST No. 10

"The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States".

Madison explains in the passage that politicians may influence their constituents and they can work together towards the same goals within their state but they will not be able to influence other states.  

FEDERALIST No. 51

" In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself".

The power must shared by the different  branches.  The division of power is necessary to prevent the abuse of power; it protects the rights of the people. The different branches will  control each other, itself, and  will  not allow the interference of the other branches, it creates a system of check an balance between  each other.

Bourne Assignment

     "They are no longer masses of aliens, waiting to be 'assimilated,' waiting to be melted down into the indistinguishable dough of Anglo- Saxonism. They are rather threads of living and potent cultures, blindly striving to weave themselves into a novel international nation, the first the world has seen".

     The author explains that  foreigners  do not wish  to lose their origin's, their belief's, their culture, and they don’t wish to  disappear into the masses.  They are not forced to conform to a predetermined set of American values but are given the freedom to retain their cultural identity.  The ability to follow your beliefs regardless of where you come from is characteristic of this "novel international nation".

     I chose this quote because I  also came to this great nation with  the desire to belong, to be part of the greatest nation in the world, and I did not have to give up my culture and traditions to do so. 

     This quote relates to the class because it is important to understand the different cultures that define a nation because it is ultimately the people that influence politics at every level.  

Two Faces of Power

   According to the text "Pluralists hold that power may be tied to issues, and issues can be fleeting or persistent, provoking coalitions among interested groups and citizens".

     The concept of power has many interpretations, some of us think that power is held by our political leaders who we believe have the power to make decisions.  Although they can make decisions the community is ultimately responsible for putting these people into power. We the community have the tendency to support the leaders whose platform targets the current issues at hand, we can also make the decision to replace these leaders when their platform differs from the needs of the community.   This contradicts the Sociologists' idea that "the power structure tends to be stable over time".  As we vote  people in and out of power we are proving the instability  of the "structure of power".