In 1787 Alexander Hamilton wrote the following:

“Why was government instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without restraint.”

I admire the truthfulness of this single sentence though in deference to women I certainly would have included them. But that was then and this is now, which points out the need to put statements in their proper context. Thankfully women have come a long way when it comes to participation in politics.

How about another forefather’s quote? Because of their recent experiences with King George, those long ago heroes were obviously concerned with the oppression of rulers but, as James Madison said in The Federalist papers, No. 51, we also need “...to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part. If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

Reason, justice/injustice and looking around for angels. An interesting combination of ideals.

I offer this historical background because there are those on the far right who wish to tear down “government.” They view that institution as some sort of monolithic immovable object which will not do their bidding so it must be reduced to an ineffective state. I think Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Hamilton, Franklin and the others would say: “This was the sort of attitude which made us feel so anxious.”

Government is made up of people and people are far from perfect. Such imperfections must cause us to constantly work to improve governance utilizing reason and the ongoing search for justice as a means to that end.

Plus, throw in The Golden Rule. You know --that “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” stuff.