The eternal problem of Government.

The fundamental problems of government  like most of the really problems of human existence, do not change. They remain essentially the same in all ages and in all places. Since the remote, prehistorical times when men first sought to improve their hard lot by establishing civil government of some kind - how, when or where, no one can say- the fundamental problems involved much have been present, however dimly realized, as they are still present today. These problems, then as now are essentially how to reconcile apparently opposite aims and ideals. How to reconcile, without constant resort to force, law with liberty, progress with stability, the State with the individual; how to bind the government in power to law in some kind; how to reconcile  government, strong enough to be effective, with the consent of at least the majority of the governed: these are the fundamental problems, always existent, always in the nature of things demanding solution. It is not the problems that change: it is the solution to them that vary from age to age and from place to place. An infinite variety of solutions has been propounded in the course of human history. Solution deemed satisfactory, or at any rate tolerated, in one age or in one place, do not satisfy or are not tolerated in another age or in another place. One age or on place will view the problems in different lights from those in which they are viewed in a different age or place. Emphasis on one side of the apparent irreconcilables shifts according to circumstances. Period of disorders tend to emphasize the importance of law, stability, and the State, as against liberty, progress, and the individual; periods of security and peacefulness tend to weight the balance on the opposite sides. In some ages and places, the very notions of liberty and progress barely exist at all, and this circumstance is naturally reflected in the current solution of the problems. But every age and every place must, consciously or unconsciously, find a soluton. The solution which a State does find or possess, so far as the framework of government is concerned, is called its Constitution. 

Casalino Pierluigi