Alana: ....Do you believe that powerful factions today, have destroyed, or have the potential to destroy the republic that the Founding Fathers have created, or do you think that factions help the assist the formation of a more developed nation?
I agree with Alana about how factions have actually strengthened our republic. For instance, if it weren't for the feminist, "rebellious" factions that have developed over the course of history, women wouldn't have had the right to own property, vote, have serious careers and equal pay (for the most part) or any other rights we have today. I think the idea that a faction can destroy a republic in current times is a bit far fetched though. It's not like this feminist movement will lead to an eventual overthrow of the republic and turn it into some kind of woman dictatorship. Seriously, if we can't even get a female's name on the ballot as presidential nominee, than I don't see some "Adolfa Hitler" in America's future.
Also, as Alana pointed out, the different factions force us to have differences of opinions, not to be narrow-minded, which ultimately brought us from the Puritan's strict non-diverse government and culture to today's more liberal and diverse society.
What other examples can you think of that have to do with factions becoming powerful and changing hisotry? like the feminist group??
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Peaceniks during the Vietnam War -- and probably today during the Iraqi War
Environmental responsibility, starting with Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
Has the Religious Right been for the good of the nations freedoms, or not? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Majority
Has the Weathermen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground_Organization been for the good or the bad?
Has the rise of a military-industrial complex been for the good or the bad?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-industrial_complex
Has the faction advocating the "War on Drugs" been for the good or the bad?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs
So one can see, feminist movements are a part of the picture. I remember years ago a government professor giving the same lecture, the conclusion was, if enough factions are present, the focus will be on balance. When factions are suppressed, then the remaining become powerful, and the republic for which we live becomes evil and oppressive. I have come to believe that there is some merit to this argument, and it of course, can be traced back to the founding fathers.
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