Let's "zoom out" and understand how and why the founding fathers structured our system of laws the way they did. To do this, we'll look at history, context, intent and application -- always keeping the central questions in mind.

"Democracy is four wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch." - Ambrose Bierce

"Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death." -- James Madison

"The experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived." -- John Quincy Adams

"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." -- John Adams

"Government is best which governs least." -- Thomas Paine

"The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government." -- Edward Abbey

...and, from across the pond:

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." -- Winston Churchill

"Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place." -- Frederic Bastiat

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