Behind all these particulars was a powerful idea. Conflict is part of the human condition and can never be eliminated. Neither can the desire for power and the tendency to abuse it. Therefore a workable constitution has to provide a structure within which conflict can be tamed, institutionalized, and thereby made productive, while the search for power can be kept within bounds. Like an internal combustion engine, such a constitution should be designed to redirect the energies released by the explosions that take place within its chambers, using those energies to drive the work of American
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