Two hundred fifty years ago, our nation began an experiment in democracy with a statement of equality among people and a list of charges against the King. Eighty-seven years later, Abraham Lincoln questioned “whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.”
The American founders were well aware of the frailties of humans and how they affected governments. “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” This bit of brilliance was written by James Madison in Federalist 51. Human governments have almost always been coercive institutions that allowed rich and powerful individuals to be in control and to set limits on the people, establish taxes, and define what rights, if any, would be tolerated for the governed. Rights were not “unalienable” but whimsical. There were no checks and balances unless enforced at the barrel of a gun.
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