

"Our constitution has failed" - Ron Paul, upon retiring - sixQuarks
http://news.yahoo.com/ron-paul-departs-constitution-failed-230217615--abc-news-politics.html

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cafard
"The problem isn't just government's size, but its use of force, both in
starting preemptive wars and as it coerces U.S. citizens with police power. To
Paul, this is the fault of Americans who no longer prioritize liberty, and it
will lead to the unraveling of orderly society unless people change."

1\. At the time the Constitution was ratified, the US had effective control to
the Alleghanies and in a few enclaves beyond along the rivers. By 1852,
California was a state. Yes, the Missouri Purchase was a purchase, but there
was a lot of warfare involved in getting control of it. Yes, various other
tracts were bought, but usually with the implicit threat of force, or in
settlement of a war. So the founders were pacifists only to the extent that it
suited them.

2\. Jefferson's administration found itself minutely regulation coastal trade
to enforce the embargo. Jefferson had been in great sympathy with the
Pennsylvanians during the "Whiskey Rebellion", but the embargo was his own to
defend.

3\. One suffers from a kind of optical illusion if one considers the
Constitution per se. It set out the rules for the federal government, not for
the states, which were a much larger presence in most lives.

I am not saying that we should be happy with the state of the union, just that
imagining a splendid past has its pitfalls.

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sixQuarks
What are some ways the founding fathers could have prevented what Ron Paul
sees happening to this country?

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001sky
Maybe its like money: 1st gen makes it, 2nd gen keeps it, 3rd gen blows it. by
this logic the founding father's are not the issue. its down to human nature,
culture, and perhaps a little familiarity (entitlement) breeding contempt (for
what made you successful). &tc

~~~
sixQuarks
Well, if we know how human nature acts, there should be ways to draft up a
better, iron-clad constitution. But I suppose human nature has ways to go
around everything.

~~~
001sky
yes, life is an exercise in discretion

