Sunday, April 06, 2008

If men were angels

"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."

-- James Madison, Federalist #51

My comment:

Those who would undermine our government, and who, believing less government is better government to the extent that they would tear down all of our government in search of that ideal state, appear to believe that they are angels; forgetting that they are merely men and subject to the same corruptions as all men.

It is possible for government to grow too big but to "starve the beast" is an indiscriminate policy that sacrifices a large good to reform a relatively small evil ... replacing the relatively small evil with one yet larger in the end.

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