In this essay, I will review the implications of Bernie Sanders' speech on Democratic Socialism, and how it relates to the ideas of James Madison, Fredrick Hayek, McClosky/Zallers, and Sidney Verba. By examining their different views of government, markets, and the role of marginalized groups, this essay will argue that not only does Bernie Sanders' speech demand the need for giving these groups more say in the government but seemingly divergent thinkers who may not advocate for a similar level of government intervention advise that a just society will look out for the minority. Through this analysis, it will become clear that Sanders' view of government, while described as radical, echoes what Madison posits in Federalist NO.10 papers. This …show more content…
Bernie believes that supporting marginalized groups and giving them more opportunities to implement change in the government is especially important. He believes with our current system people with the most wealth and power have had greater say in the government. This quote portrays Bernie Sanders' opinion towards supporting a more diverse system. “They are the entities with unlimited wealth who surround our nation’s capital with thousands of well-paid lobbyists, who to a significant degree write the laws that we live under.” This has been a problem for our society because the elites have been able to shape society to their needs and in ways that benefit the wealthy. In change, we would be able to give more power to marginalized groups and in doing so it would create a more balanced government and create more diverse and equal opportunities. As we can see from Sanders' quote regarding the entities with unlimited wealth who ‘write the laws we live under’ and Madison's Federalist No. 10, we can see how these two politicians share a similar view on the danger of democracy being corrupted by special interests. James Madison’s main point in Federalist NO.10 is that he believes in a large republic with representative democracy. His theory is that by voting for wiser and better representatives the current constitutional system can achieve this “The federal constitution forms a happy combination in this respect; the great and aggregate interest being referred to the national, the local and particular to the state legislatures”. (Federalist, 1787, 52) What Madison did not foresee was the increase in income and inequality and the influences of wealthy individuals who have the free time and money to make their voices louder as we see later in the “Big Tilt” by Sidney Verba. When you are consumed with trying to put food on the table