A quote from Hamilton’s 1775 pamphlet “The Farmer Refuted”:
In contriving any system of government and fixing the several checks and contracts of the constitution, every man ought to be supposed a knave and to have no other end in all his actions but private interest. By this interest, we must govern him.
Once again I am struck by the cynical nature of our Founding Fathers. All of them (except for perhaps Jefferson, who believed in the perfectability of man) … they knew men operated only out of self-interest. Checks and balances were then needed … every power checked by another power on the opposite side. Men cannot be trusted with power. EVER. These guys KNEW that, instinctively. Amazing.
