“If Men were angels, government would not be necessary.
If angels were to govern men, controls on government would not be necessary.
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over other men,
the great difficulty lies in this:
you must first enable the government to control the governed;
and the next place, you must oblige it to control itself.”
- James Madison-in 1788-in the text from Federalist No. 51
Here is the conundrum:
People do bad things, so they must to be governed,
but the government is composed of people.
and people do bad things.
If people can not be trusted with their own freedom,
how can people be trusted with power over other people?