We have the power to check those who hold power, but only if we exercise it.
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When Americans sought to ratify the U.S. Constitution, James Madison wrote about the need for “checks and balances.” [1] He noted that people making decisions within government couldn’t always be trusted to just do the right thing and not abuse their power; we needed to empower others to impose constraints to keep them aligned with their constitutional responsibilities.
Through the series of essays now known as The Federalist Papers, Madison described why this was needed, and why the Constitution was structured the way it was: [2]
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.
This policy of supplying, by opposite and rival interests, the defect of better motives, might be traced through the whole system of human affairs, private as well as public.
Madison is really describing the nature of how people make decisions – whether public or private - and what drives them to do the right thing or the wrong thing. We can’t really rely on “better motives,” since people will at times (and possibly at many times) choose what’s in their own private interest over what they happen to believe is in the overall best interest.
When this happens, either in pursuit of power or enrichment, there may be times where reform is needed – new checks and balances that meet the crisis of the moment. And it falls to the people to put those checks in place when the times call for them.
California did just that at the start of the twentieth century. When Hiram Johnson was first elected Governor of California in 1910, he signaled his desire for the legislature to propose important state reform measures in his first inaugural address: [3]
“How best can we arm the people to protect themselves hereafter? . . . We can give to the people the means by which they may accomplish such other reforms as they desire, [and] the means as well by which they may prevent the misuse of the power. . . .The first step in our design to preserve and perpetuate popular government shall be the adoption of the initiative, the referendum, and the recall.”
In 1911, California voters approved twenty-two constitutional amendments, changing the nature of government in the state - granting women the right to vote, allowing cities and counties to adopt their own charters, and importantly, changing the mechanisms of self-governance through initiative, referendum, and recall. [4]
These mechanisms were developed as a way to break the strength of monopolies, corporations, and trusts on state legislatures; Johnson specifically ran for Governor on a campaign to counter the influence of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, described as the “greatest single influence operating in California politics.” [5]
And that initiative power has been instrumental at countering efforts against the public interest, even a century after the initiative became a constitutional right in California. When local city council majorities appointed like-minded people to keep and expand their own power, voters in Thousand Oaks used that initiative process to put a check on council majorities, guaranteeing elections for the council going forward. [6]
That doesn’t mean that those in power won’t still try to mess with the electoral process. I wrote in my previous post about what’s happening with the Trump administration’s current efforts in Alaska and California. [7]
Reform is always needed to ensure government is aligned with our public interests; times change so we will need governmental change to keep with the times. Maybe that’s Supreme Court reform. Maybe that’s more transparency into or limits on the dark money fueling political campaigns.
As Madison wrote, we can’t rely on people being angels; we have to exercise the checks and balances we have, especially in times when they are needed.
But elections are the ultimate way we get to check the direction of those in power – either by letting them remain or choosing someone else better aligned with the popular will.
Whether your interests are national, state, or local, please exercise the check and balance you have.
Vote!
Notes and Sources
[1] James Madison, “The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments”, Federalist Papers No. 51, 1788, https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/text-51-60
[2] Ibid.
[3] Inaugural Address of Governor Hiram W. Johnson Before the Senate and Assembly of the State of California, in Joint Assembly, at Sacramento, Tuesday, January 3, 1911 (Sacramento: State Office, A.J. Johnston, Supt. State Printing, 1911), 5.
[4] Frank C. Jordan, Secretary of State, “Statement of the Vote of California at the Special Election held October 11, 1911 on Constitutional Amendments,” W.W. Shannon, Superintendent of State Printing, Sacramento, 1911, https://archives.cdn.sos.ca.gov/pdf/suffrage/statement-of-vote-1911.pdf
[5] Spencer C. Olin, Jr., Prodigal Sons: Hiram Johnson and the Progressives, 1911-1917 (Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1968), 2.
[6] Ordinance No. 1580-NS, Thousand Oaks City Council, adopted July 17, 2012, https://weblink.toaks.org/WeblinkPublic/DocView.aspx?id=1140924&dbid=0&repo=CTO
[7] Mic Farris, “Preemptive Election Interference,” Decisions, October 28, 2026, https://www.micfarris.com/articles/preemptive-election-interference
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