Nor is it left to the
mere demagogue to talk thus.
Doubtful it may be, whether it should be called dimness of
understanding, or rather perverse ingenuity, that men reason thus, when
the facts are: So general is the disposition to abuse power, that
wherever it is accumulated, it will surely be abused; accordingly it
must be distributed as equally as possible. If government be made the
business of one part of the community--one tenth, or one hundredth, or
one thousandth--that part will inevitably exalt self, at the cost of
the others. So strong is self-love, turned towards temporal interests,
so acute to discern what tends to the one desired end, and so sure to
bend every thing that way, that men's temporal interests are pretty
safe in their own hands, and safe no where else. Now the legitimate
end of civil government being, to secure the temporal welfare of _all_,
_all_ must have a share in it, or the excluded portions must find their
rights neglected.
It may have favored the common mistake, that the leaders in successful
republican movements have so often shown a heroic self-devotion and
disinterestedness--men like Luther, and Washington. But these are the
exceptions, the rare gems of humanity.
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