The Founding Fathers and Pluralist Democracy

The Founding Fathers and Pluralist Democracy

     The United States of America has a unique form of government that was truly unique to the time it was used; democracy. The founding fathers each wanted a government that was controlled by the people, and James Madison was the most important person working on the Constitution. He wanted factions to work together in society and compromise on the matters of politics and government. For this reason, out of the three models of democracy, participatory, pluralist, and elite, pluralist democracy is the form of government that best achieves the founders intent for American democracy in terms of ensuring a stable government run by the people.

     Pluralist democracy is a democracy where factions of the people run the government. Firstly, elite democracy would not fit the founders intent because it gives more power to the higher-class, which goes against the idea of representation and equality of everyone. A participatory democracy would not be ideal because it is fit only for smaller communities, and the USA is one of the largest countries in the world; it is too sloppy and unrealistic. In Federalist No. 10, it is stated that "causes of faction cannot be removed, and that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its effects". Therefore, factions are necessary for a democracy, more specifically, a democratic republic. Pluralist democracy is based around the idea of factions, the Constitution is based around the idea of factions, and our present day government is based on the idea of factions, with a bit of every other democracy. It simply makes sense to assume that a Pluralist democracy best achieves the founders intent to create a government that functions on factions. Another example of Pluralism is, for example, when different groups of people, ones that are against gun control or for abortion, protest. This is the conflict necessary for compromises. Compromises cause the government to run and allow everyone to be at least a little bit happy. Again, this was the basis for the Constitution, and of Federalist No. 10, where James Madison and other founding fathers stated that, after much DEBATE and COMPROMISING, the government should have many factions that keep each other in check, because they can not be abolished in a democracy, and are therefore, necessary for a democracy. 

     The founding fathers wanted a government where factions, which can not be destroyed, will help keep the government running, allowing decisions to be made through compromises. They didn't want a participatory democracy, because the USA was too large. They didn't want an elite democracy, because it destroys the idea of equal representation and equality of all. By this conclusion, a Pluralist democracy best fit the founders ideal government, because it is directly stated by the founders, the Constitution, and Federalist No. 10 that factions (which are the basis of a Pluralist democracy) are an irremovable part of the government, and so the government will function best with debate compromises between the factions.