The above quotation comes from the inestimable Senator Daniel Webster, in 1837; of which it almost goes without saying that a good Constitution, by definition, protects the population from bad intentions. Yet, we should always be on the alert, that those that are our representatives, having in the best of times, good intentions for the people that they are pledged to serve, do not necessarily make decisions that despite their good intentions, thereof, are ultimately beneficial and helpful to the people. For instance, the government has department upon department, institution upon institution, that are pretty much opaque to the people, with the good intention, that such secrecy is necessary in order to appropriately defend our country from enemies, both foreign and domestic, but such secrecy, in addition to the billions upon billions of the people’s money so being spent, creates an inherent danger to the people, because of that hidden power which has not been appropriately vetted and certainly is not under the control of those that have a right to know. Further to the point, never has the government, had more actionable information in regards to its own individual citizens, that by virtue of this information, perhaps obtained with the best of intentions, can be utilized in order to monitor, to control, and to manipulate that population, which serves to undercut the very freedom and liberty that each are entitled to.
We do not really know whether this present-day government, has good intentions at all times for those so governed – but clearly, we find that the people are to a very large extent, living within a construct in which what has been sold to them, is that they as a people need to sacrifice some of their precious liberties in order to have safety. Perhaps the intention behind this sort of tradeoff, is well meaning, but the danger of such, is that this population thereby lives under the impression that there are dangers that are imminent to their safety, that must be met by governmental actions, of which, they as a people, are not cognizant of the whole truth, behind such actions, and hence lacking that full disclosure, do not know whether this is the right or appropriate response so being made for their alleged safety or not.
Indeed, there is also the fundamental problem of those that have the best of intentions as opposed to all those that do not; for those that know their intentions are wrong, can at times, change their mind as well as their behavior, to that which is right, or perhaps even lose heart in what they are doing, because they know that it is wrong. On the other hand, those that believe wholeheartedly that what they are doing is right, of which that is their absolute intent to do so; may well find that being driven by the belief that they are in the right, it becomes, for them, well-nigh impossible to be knocked off of their present course, for their course, once taken, is fixed and unchangeable. This thus creates the quandary of those with good intentions, that are unable to recognize the danger of their actions, of which without a robust Constitution being actuated against them, this can thereby destroy from within, that which has stood tall, against all from without.