The whole premise, unstated, was that the various branches would act honorably or mostly honorably
Actually it was the opposite. Take it from James Madison himself: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
The whole point of separating the branches is based on the precise anticipation that corrupt people always eventually rise to power. The separation of the branches was designed as a safety switch in the face of that inevitability. to make it as hard as humanly possible for those corrupt people to consolidate power.
The fact that it’s so far worked to the extent the American constitution has stayed alive for 250 years is pretty impressive. They did as well as they could, I guess, and can’t be faulted for not forseeing the problems we currently face 250 years later
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u/SkippyDragonPuffPuff 5d ago
The whole premise, unstated, was that the various branches would act honorably or mostly honorably. Lately, that has become quite the myth.