“Today when we think of self-government, we usually have in mind the various forms of political participation, like voting in elections or serving on a jury, associated with the democratic process.  These activities are a very important aspect of the concept.  But in addition to these practices, the Founders meant the preconditions that were required for the success of that process and that fulfilled man’s higher purpose beyond the limited ends of government.

    The Founders understood self-government in the twofold sense of political self-government, in which we govern ourselves as a political community, and of moral self-government, according to which each individual is responsible for governing himself.  They believed that the success of the former required a flourishing of the latter.  Individuals could not govern themselves as a body politic unless they were each first capable of governing themselves as individuals, families and communities.  The Founders were deeply concerned not only with the structures of limited constitutional government but also with the public virtues and civic habits needed to maintain the capacity for political self-government.  This constant challenge is the reason that American constitutionalism was from the beginning, and will always remain, an experiment.

    The purpose of limiting government, assuring rights, and guaranteeing the consent of the governed is to protect a vast realm of human freedom.  That freedom creates a great space for the primary institutions of civil society – family, school, church and private associations – to flourish, forming the habits and virtues required for liberty.”