|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: about to make refer to America alone. These dangers may be more
or less formidable in proportion to the place which the executive
power occupies, and to the importance it possesses in the State;
and they may vary according to the mode of election and the
circumstances in which the electors are placed. The most weighty
argument against the election of a chief magistrate is, that it
offers so splendid a lure to private ambition, and is so apt to
inflame men in the pursuit of power, that when legitimate means
are wanting force may not unfrequently seize what right denied.
It is clear that the greater the privileges of the executive
authority are, the greater is the temptation; the more the
|
