I heard a disturbing James Madison quote, might it have been taken out of context?

Question

"the primary function of government is to protect the minority of the opulent from the majority of the poor." - James Madison

This is frighteningly revealing, but I wonder if it were taken out of context? The person who delivered it was arguing that the US was never supposed to be a real democracy. Was this taken out of context? If so, please put it back into context.

Answer 1

You did not take it out of context. I think what your saying or what your thinking is correct.

Answer 2

I found an additional explanation from Chomsky that may be helpful.

begin quote

Aristotle also made the point that if you have, in a perfect democracy, a small number of very rich people and a large number of very poor people, the poor will use their democratic rights to take property away from the rich. Aristotle regarded that as unjust, and proposed two possible solutions: reducing poverty (which is what he recommended) or reducing democracy.

James Madison, who was no fool, noted the same problem, but unlike Aristotle, he aimed to reduce democracy rather than poverty. He believed that the primary goal of government is "to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority." As his colleague John Jay was fond of putting it, "The people who own the country ought to govern it."

To be fair, Madison was precapitalist and his "more capable set of men" were supposed to be "enlightened statesmen" and "benevolent philosophers," not investors and corporate executives trying to maximize their own wealth regardless of the effect that has on other people. When Alexander Hamilton and his followers began to turn the US into a capitalist state, Madison was pretty appalled. In my opinion, he'd be an anticapitalist if he were alive today -- as would Jefferson and Adam Smith- end quote