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  3. By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and ac

By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and ac

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问题     By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.
    There are two methods of curing the mischief of factions: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects.
    There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.
    (47) It could never be more truly said than of the first remedy, that it was worse than the disease. (48) Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an ailment without which it instantly expires. (49) But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.
    The second expedient is as impracticable as the first would be unwise. As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed. As long as the connection subsists between his reason and his self-love, his opinions and his passions will have a reciprocal influence on each other; and the former will be objects to which the latter will attach themselves.
    The latent causes of faction are thus shown in the nature of man; and we see them everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society.
    If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote…When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens. (50) To secure the public good and private rights, against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is the great object to which our inquiries are directed…
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答案就像火离不开空气一样，宗派离不开自由，这是一个失调的关系，没有这种关系宗派立即消亡。
解析     句子的框架是Liberty to faction is what air is to fire，an ailment without which it instantly expires。此句中有一句型：A to B is what C to D。what air is to fire作为表语从句，an ailment可理解为which is an ailment的省略解释前句，其后跟有which引导的定语从句，从句中it指代faction。
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