How Political Parties and Big Tech and Media Factionalism Undermined the US Republic

Executive Summary

• Political factions were considered one of the greatest threats to the US by the founding fathers.

Introduction

The founding fathers brought up factions as a significant threat.

Factionalism #1: Political Parties

George Washington’s farewell address is often remembered for its warning against hyper-partisanship: “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.” John Adams, Washington’s successor, similarly worried that “a division of the republic into two great parties … is to be dreaded as the great political evil.”

The Framers thought they were using the most advanced political theory of the time to prevent parties from forming. By separating powers across competing institutions, they thought a majority party would never form. Combine the two insights—a large, diverse republic with a separation of powers—and the hyper-partisanship that felled earlier republics would be averted. Or so they believed. – The Atlantic

This is an amazing observation. It means that the founders not only opposed the all-powerful parties that the US has today but never thought they would ever arise. Without party affiliation, it is virtually impossible to run for office. In this way, it can be said that the parties have undermined the republican government design of the founders.

Creating Highly Hierarchical Parties

These triple developments—the nationalization of politics, the geographical-cultural partisan split, and consistently close elections—have reinforced one another, pushing both parties into top-down leadership, enforcing party discipline, and destroying cross-partisan deal making. Voters now vote the party, not the candidate. Candidates depend on the party brand. Everything is team loyalty. The stakes are too high for it to be otherwise. – The Atlantic

And this tribalism now impacts everything. It has been repeatedly observed that the hypothesis, which later was proven to be true, that covid escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology was rejected by much of the country because Trump proposed it.

Caught in Permanent Tribal Gridlock

The consequence is that today, America has a genuine two-party system with no overlap, the development the Framers feared most. And it shows no signs of resolving. The two parties are fully sorted by geography and cultural values, and absent a major realignment, neither side has a chance of becoming the dominant party in the near future. But the elusive permanent majority promises so much power, neither side is willing to give up on it.

This fundamentally breaks the system of separation of powers and checks and balances that the Framers created. Under unified government, congressional co-partisans have no incentive to check the president; their electoral success is tied to his success and popularity. Under divided government, congressional opposition partisans have no incentive to work with the president; their electoral success is tied to his failure and unpopularity. This is not a system of bargaining and compromise, but one of capitulation and stonewalling.

Congressional stonewalling, in turn, leads presidents to do more by executive authority, further strengthening the power of the presidency. A stronger presidency creates higher-stakes presidential elections, which exacerbates hyper-partisanship, which drives even more gridlock.

Meanwhile, as hyper-partisanship has intensified legislative gridlock, more and more important decisions are left to the judiciary to resolve. This makes the stakes of Supreme Court appointments even higher (especially with lifetime tenure), leading to nastier confirmation battles, and thus higher-stakes elections. – The Atlantic

Factionalism #2: How the Supreme Court Became Dominated by Party Factions

During the 20th century, the Supreme Court also became both more powerful and more divided. The Court struck down federal laws two times in the first 70 years of American history, just over 50 times in the next 75 years, and more than 125 times since 1934. Beginning with the appointment of Anthony Kennedy, in 1987, the Court became increasingly polarized between justices appointed by Republican presidents and justices appointed by Democratic presidents. Kennedy’s retirement raises the likelihood of more constitutional rulings split between five Republican appointees and four Democratic ones. – The Atlantic

Factionalism #3: How Media and Big Tech Created Factions That The Founding Fathers Feared 

James Madison traveled to Philadelphia in 1787 with Athens on his mind. He had spent the year before the Constitutional Convention reading two trunkfuls of books on the history of failed democracies, sent to him from Paris by Thomas Jefferson. Madison was determined, in drafting the Constitution, to avoid the fate of those “ancient and modern confederacies,” which he believed had succumbed to rule by demagogues and mobs. – The Atlantic

The topic of how much James Madison studied democracies before deciding to reject them for the US is little discussed in the US.

The Factionalism of Media Polarization

Exacerbating all this political antagonism is the development that might distress Madison the most: media polarization, which has allowed geographically dispersed citizens to isolate themselves into virtual factions, communicating only with like-minded individuals and reinforcing shared beliefs. Far from being a conduit for considered opinions by an educated elite, social-media platforms spread misinformation and inflame partisan differences. Indeed, people on Facebook and Twitter are more likely to share inflammatory posts that appeal to emotion than intricate arguments based on reason. The passions, hyper-partisanship, and split-second decision making that Madison feared from large, concentrated groups meeting face-to-face have proved to be even more dangerous from exponentially larger, dispersed groups that meet online. – The Atlantic

This became very apparent on the topics of covid and the war in Ukraine, with many people reacting emotionally and accepting all of the war drum banging by the establishment media at the behest of the US defense establishment. Furthermore, it is well known that the majority of the media and Big Tech are biased in favor of the Democrat Party and Neoliberals. Trust in media and Big Tech has been eroding for years.

Conclusion

Factionalism in the form of political parties that have become extraordinarily tribal, which then influenced the Supreme Court to be party affiliated with Big Tech and media polarization factionalism has undermined the original design of the US republic.