Like Madison, you "see the consequences in the principle".
Unfortunately, most of your fellow Americans can neither see the principle, nor do they have any desire to "avoid the consequence by denying the principle".
They are too busy celebrating "freedom" by choosing between reruns of Seinfeld and Friends.
Unfortunately, most of your fellow Americans can neither see the principle, nor do they have any desire to "avoid the consequence by denying the principle".
That is too good to let pass without quoting the entire passage.
"It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens, and one of the noblest characteristics of the late Revolution. The freeman of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthen itself by exercise, and entangled the question in precedents. They saw all the consequences in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by denying the principle."