Human nature as expressed through motives for action provides another core
constraint on political feasibility. As the history of the twentieth century demonstrated,
there are limits to human malleability. The effort to produce the ‘‘new Soviet
man’’ ran aground, as did Maoist cultural revolutions in China, Cambodia, and
elsewhere. While many individuals are capable of devotion to their fellow citizens
and to the common good some of the time, and a few are capable of that behavior
most of the time, any political program predicated on the belief that most citizens are
capable of it most of the time is bound to run aground.