Although the flood of executive actions coming from the desk of President Trump — and from Elon Musk, his unelected and unofficial co-president — are instilling widespread shock and fear, America was amply forewarned.

For those who weren’t paying much attention, or chose to look the other way, or who continue to either shrug it all off or cheer them on, here is a civics refresher on what is at stake and why it matters for all of us, not just Democrats.

The framers of the Constitution rejected an unlimited monarchy, in which power was believed to flow directly from the divine to the king and his blood heirs. By the time of the American Revolution, the authority of the British Parliament had been established, but the colonists resented King George III’s bullying behavior. So the framers established three co-equal branches of government — legislative, executive and judicial — each of which was designed to answer to the other two.

In Federalist No. 51, James Madison explained that it was necessary to “partition ... power among the several departments” so that “its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places.” He called it “a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government.” Three distinct branches offered “the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department” on the theory that “if men were angels,” Madison wrote, “no government would be necessary.”

The Constitution’s design was thus as much about psychology as it was about politics. The Framers understood that part of human nature is to amass, entrench and ultimately abuse power, so there must be disincentives to protect against bad behavior.

Every road has a speed limit, but drivers honor only........

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