The aim of every political constitution is … to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of society, … and … to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.
James Madison, 1788 as cited in Garrett Ward Sheldon, The Political Philosophy of James Madison (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Univiersity Press, 2001), 52.