Stability

When forming a good government, the motive is to create something that is beneficial to everyone. This is a difficult task since everyone has different interests. A determination has to be made as to what areas we are going to give control, what people will have control and to what extent the control will be imposed. We start out by studying government and theoretical governments of the past. Governing is good but becomes despised when it isn't applied properly. When people don't perceive they are being represented, rebellion ensues. It is important that the citizenry be educated about the proper application of authority and appreciation for its proper use before a country can be peaceful.
It goes both ways since either common people or those in authority can be victims of mistaken notions.

There are a few good points we can touch on out of book eight of Politics. Concerning who should govern, we find that a military government ends up making slaves out of the common people. We see that today in some countries. The people end up farming and building for the benefit of the army and officers while they maintain an elite status. This certainly isn't a benefit for the people and is subject to abuses. A government should also have a mixture of white collar professionals. But to put business professionals in charge can also have the same effect. They will want to mold things for their own benefit and make slaves of everyone else. And blue collar workers would be concerned about their interests and not understand the effect legislation has on commerce and treaties.

Regardless the representation in governing, one thing needs to be common. Aristotle thought that having the ability to easily change laws is a great evil. Stability comes from having laws that don't change so people can understand them easily and get in the habit of obeying them. He makes a couple interesting remarks about the origin of man. Some believed that the people had come out of some kind of disaster while others believed that we came from the earth in barbaric form. He thought that either way, old laws will need to be improved occasionally as a society becomes more civilized and he quotes some ridiculous laws that these old civilizations had. Even with a nation a couple hundred years old we can do the same.

Constitutions and laws need a way to be amended, but this also needs to be very difficult since the goal is that any laws we pass will be for everyone's benefit and not just a certain class of citizen. They also shouldn't be changed to represent trends but remain as a solid foundation for a civilized society. Of course, there are always particulars that laws cannot cover that require judgment, but we shouldn't go down the road of trying to cover every spurious concern. The particulars are where we should be trained to have good discretion. We enlist judges and arbiters when two cannot agree on the proper applications and to apply penalties as needed.