Hello, this is my first post.
(sorry so long)
As to the original subject of this thread the constitution has either produced the current sorry state of governance in these united states or has been totally worthless in preventing it. Why? We can apply fault on any number of suspects; the faulty nature of man, the many shortcomings of the document, etc. I can through observation deduce the US Constitution is a mostly useless document at this time. That is not to deny its historical importance in relationship to governance. It certainly stands as the most important governmental document since the Magna Carta.
In his booklet 'The Law' Frederic Bastiat states the following truths:
('The Law' free to view online at: bastiat.org/en/the_law.html)
From the section What Is Law
"Each of us has a natural right from God to defend his person, his liberty, and his property. These are the three basic requirements of life, and the preservation of any one of them is completely dependent upon the preservation of the other two. For what are our faculties but the extension of our individuality? And what is property but an extension of our faculties? If every person has the right to defend even by force his person, his liberty, and his property, then it follows that a group of men have the right to organize and support a common force to protect these rights constantly."
"Thus the principle of collective right its reason for existing, its lawfulness is based on individual right. ... Thus, since an individual cannot lawfully use force against the person, liberty, or property of another individual, then the common force for the same reason cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, liberty, or property of individuals or groups.
Such a perversion of force would be, in both cases, contrary to our premise. Force has been given to us to defend our own individual rights. Who will dare to say that force has been given to us to destroy the equal rights of our brothers? Since no individual acting separately can lawfully use force to destroy the rights of others, does it not logically follow that the same principle also applies to the common force that is nothing more than the organized combination of the individual forces?"
From the section The Complete Perversion Of The Law
"But, unfortunately, law by no means confines itself to its proper functions. And when it has exceeded its proper functions, it has not done so merely in some inconsequential and debatable matters. The law has gone further than this; it has acted in direct opposition to its own purpose. The law has been used to destroy its own objective: It has been applied to annihilating the justice that it was supposed to maintain ...
How has this perversion of the law been accomplished? ... The law has been perverted by the influence of two entirely different causes: stupid greed and false philanthropy."
From the section The Fate Of Non-Conformist
"If you suggest a doubt as to the morality of these institutions, it is boldly said that "You are a dangerous innovator, a utopian, a theorist, a subversive; you would shatter the foundation upon which society rests." If you lecture upon morality or upon political science, there will be found official organizations petitioning the government in this vein of thought ..."
Bastiat and many others throughout the years have gone on to exert what I believe to be another truth: The best of men seek not to rule their fellow men. This is a chief problem with collective governance.
Having said that the most supreme form of governance, the first form of governance, the form of governance which we all exercise, and the most noble form of governance granted to humanity by God is self-governance. As Methodist we expressly accept the doctrine of freewill. Much of central-authoritative-collective governance denies both self-governance and the divine rights of freewill. The rhetoric of freedom in this nation has always far outpaced the reality of limited liberty, and the prospects are getting progressively worse.
Something else I could not help but address is a statement made about the state of unlimited capitalism in the past decades. We do NOT have capitalism in the US nor in much of the world anymore. What currently exist is unchecked politically connected privileged corporatism. Of corporatism Benito Mussolini said, "Fascism should rightly be called corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power."
Like it or not the US is today in the throes of mild-fascism. It is mild because the state does not yet fully control the means of production. What can not be denied though is that the state fully controls the conditions under which the means of production may be exercised. Everyone can think of examples of large corporations (Monsantos, CarGill, Goldman Sachs) who benefit GREATLY because of their influence upon government. Additional and just as destructive examples are the fact that almost 1/3rd of people in the US now must have some form of government license (translation: permission) to perform their jobs. One can continue this exercise to examine the lack of wisdom and infringement upon the exercise of individual liberty when small businesses are required to purchase business license, surprisingly truthfully called a privilege license. This overregulation, more justly called fascism, has reached the point that people now must register their lemonade stands and garage sales with local government or be fined/jailed for exercising simple property rights. The fact is if one dares resist such fines or subsequent jailing the government is more than willing to kill people over what boils down to selling lemonade or other goods on their own property... this can not be called liberty by any thinking rational person. On the contrary, denying property rights can only be labeled a form of oppression. Consider the audacity it takes for government to call a business license a privilege license. This rare glimpse clearly exposes the nature of government to consider all people and property under it's 'authority' subject to whatever instruction it may give no matter the moral detriment.
I close with this quote from Ed Abbey, 'If you refuse to pay unjust taxes, your property will be confiscated. If you attempt to defend your property, you will be arrested. If you resist (this unjust) arrest, you will be clubbed. If you defend yourself against clubbing, you will be shot dead. These procedures are known as the Rule of Law.'
Government CAN NOT exist without force and coercion. Thus the only just functions of government under this constitution or any set of articles is the protection of the natural rights granted by God to all of humankind.