Choose a contemporary issue that that has generated polarized view points (environmental policy, taxation and income redistribution, benefits for same-sex couples, worker's rights, and etc.). After choosing the issue, explain the competition in elite groups or special interest groups in regard to related rule decisions and how the issue has been debated. For example, one could examine environmentalist versus big business approach to the question of whether the lumber industry should have access to old growth forests. Or, one could examine how specific institutional elites have competed over issues such as free speech or "family values."

After providing the information requested above, provide your own assessment of whether or not the factionalism you have described has contributed to a healthy debate regarding the selected issue and provided equitable outcomes in regard to related public policy. Is Madison's hope that the checks and balances in the Constitution and the existence of opposing factions working sufficiently so the general good is not being sacrificed for the good of powerful elite and special interests?