Francis Porretto hits it out of the park.

Men of good will habitually assume that other men are much like them. They, being animated and guided by what C. S. Lewis called the Law of General Benevolence, have difficulty conceiving of a body of motivation centered on malice, venality, or cruelty. They want nothing from others except what should come to them in consequence of a fulfilled agreement, and cannot imagine how anyone could be otherwise oriented. . . Thus, for a man of good will to deal with politicians and political bodies as if they were like him is a fatal error. The latter will view the former as a sheep to be shorn.