"People should not fear their government, their government should fear the people"?

Question

I dont quite get what this quote means, can someone explain it?

Answer 1

Democracy was formed as a government for the people.  That meaning the people controlled the government.  In a democracy everyone has an equal vote, if the majority of the people want change then, ideally, the government changes for that majority.  

It is not the other way around.  The democratic government, ideally, does not tell the people what to do (that is called a dictatorship, i.e. Communism).  

The point of the quote is to show that we should not fear that the government is going to take away our rights, but rather the government should fear that the people will overthrow it if it doesn't function as a democratic government should.

Answer 2

The government is meant to represent the people. In every case there are more citizens of an country or region than there are government officials.

The people can always band together, rise up and over throw the government.

Alas this rarely is the case.