I have a question: what if the guy upstream dammed the river and then tried to sell you the water? Why can't he do that? And when you asserted your rights in Court, was that an example of the system of checks and balances working, or was it a failure of all aspects of government including the Court itself?
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
