Quote of the Day (James Madison, on Voting for ‘Men of Virtue and Wisdom’)

“I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom. Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks—no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.” —Founding Father and 4^th President of the United States James Madison (1752-1836), “Judicial Powers of the National Government,” June 20, 1788, Founders Online, National Archives [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, vol. 11, 7 March 1788–1 March 1789, ed. Robert A. Rutland and Charles F. Hobson. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1977, pp. 158–165.]