He wasn't the only one.

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

-- John Adams

A constitution needs to take into account all sorts of people or it's inadequate. All societies have a mix, and the religiously moral ones have their notable failings.

I think Adams is wrong. Constitution was made (I believe) to deter immoral people who would like to get rid of the constitution, who would love to establish a dictatorship, who would love to force a specific religion on all of us.

Moral people don't really need laws, laws exist to deter crime.

Frankly I don't get what John Adams was trying say? Can someone explain?

He was pissed off at France after his stint in Europe and thought the Cult of Reason was fake as hell. He wasn’t talking about a dictatorship but rather subversion of religion and using fancy words to enrich a political class. He thought trade and commerce was a better approach to getting rich.

I take it to mean immoral people can make mincemeat out of the best government.

Yes, unless there are safeguards and Constitution that keep "immoral" people out of the government. But I agree something like that was probably what Adams was trying to say.

As an example in recent news Super Court justices have been accused of taking bribes. It is no surprise because there is now ethical rules the right-wing majority of the Supreme Court says it would have to follow, by law. I'm not sure if that is true but surely there could be such a law.

So we need laws, and we need better laws, which means laws that have fewer loopholes, and which apply to all, even Supreme Court justices and Presidents. Are we there yet? Not yet.

https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-un...

Adams assumed that a widespread immoral conduct can make life miserable for everyone and predicted that in such scenario a weakly governed country is more vulnerable than a strictly governed one.

> Because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by [...] morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or [amorous] galantry, would break the strongest cords of our constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-3102

spitballing: laws exist to take care of outliers, they cannot regulate a society of people who are, on average, looking to exploit each other for personal gain.

The reason outliers are outliers is because of laws. Laws have an effect on people's behavior, no?

“Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”

-- Douglas Adams

And from the opposite, lunatic, racist, misogynistic, narcissistic end of the Adams spectrum:

"If Joe Biden is elected to the White House, there’s a good chance you will be dead within the year." "Republicans will be hunted, police will stand down."

-- Scott Adams

"Based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people. Just get the fuck away. I don’t think it makes any sense as a white citizen of America to try to help Black citizens any more […] I’m going to back off on being helpful to Black America because it doesn’t seem like it pays off."

-- Scott Adams

"The reality is that women are treated differently by society for exactly the same reason that children and the mentally handicapped are treated differently. It's just easier this way for everyone. You don't argue with a four-year old about why he shouldn't eat candy for dinner. You don't punch a mentally handicapped guy even if he punches you first. And you don't argue when a women tells you she's only making 80 cents to your dollar. It's the path of least resistance. You save your energy for more important battles."

-- Scott Adams

And from the lunatic, eccentric, enigmatic, passionate, romantic, homicidal end:

"We danced the Mamushka while Nero fiddled, we danced the Mamushka at Waterloo. We danced the Mamushka for Jack the Ripper, and now, Fester Addams, this Mamushka is for you."

-- Gomez Addams

"Fan out. Pugsley, head for the dung heap. Mama and Morticia, the shallow graves. I'll take the abyss. Lurch, check out the bottomless pit. Fester?"

-- Gomez Addams

The January 6th committee has been Democrats hunting Republicans. And we don't draft women or children to the military, and we put them on the life boats first.

> Should an enterprise created for profit consider other values than profit?

Enterprises don't consider anything, enterprises cannot think. Only people do. Enterprise is made of people. Should people consider other values than profit?