The Elections of Kings and Princes

The American republic was designed to accomplish a singular objective: protect American citizens from abuse at the hands of their own government.

Thus it was that we had a federal government divided into three competing powers. 

Thus it was that we had a legislative branch divided into two competing bodies, one based on population and the other based on an equal representation from each state, regardless of population.

Thus it was that we had a division between the powers of the federal government, and those of the individual states. 

Thus it was that the republic encouraged each state to experiment with its owns laws and its own regulations, thereby discovering what worked and what didn't.

And thus it was that we had a long list of explicitly enumerated rights of the citizen that no government could ever take away. 

Alas, the American republic was not built to defend its citizens from the greatest threat to their liberty: the citizens themselves. 

Democracy is steadily dismantling the old restraints of a divided government. Voters no longer want to hear what the government can't do. They want candidates who can "get things done" with economic policy, industrial policy, education policy, energy policy, environmental policy, foreign policy, health care policy, homeland security policy, national defense policy, social security policy, tax policy, veterans benefits, women's rights policy, abortion rights policy, civil rights policy, immigration policy, the distribution of wealth policy, rural policy, technology policy, faith policy, judicial policy, fiscal policy, equality policy, transportation policy, drug policy, trade policy, agriculture policy, housing policy, stem-cell research policy, urban policy, water policy, fishing policy, endangered species policy, historic preservation policy, carbon policy, humanities policy, telecommunications policy, fleet fuel economy policy, national parks policy, public health policy, broadcast spectrum policy, obesity policy and school lunch policy.

In the new American state, limited government means that we get to elect our king every four years, and our princes every two or six.