We like to think of our Constitution as being a perfect document. It's not.
We like to think of our nation as something that is and will always be without having to be maintained and sustained. It’s not.
I believe the writers of The Constitution envisioned that the Congress which they defined and created when they wrote Article I would function in much the way they were functioning. They convened in Philadelphia in the spring of 1787, used their collective knowledge, wisdom and judgment and applied their collective talents, time and energy to doing the best that they were collectively capable of doing for the new nation for which they were defining and creating a federal government.
I believe that they hoped they were defining and creating a federal government that would govern the new nation in accordance with the principles and ideals that had been written into the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Many, most, perhaps all of them believed, quite rightly, when they adjourned and returned home that September that the Constitution that they had written was a flawed document. But the members of the Continental Congress had a very real constraint. They had to write a Constitution that would be approved and ratified by enough of the 13 states for it to be adopted and then used as a functional document, a verbal blueprint for creating the federal government.
I think that they believed that when the Constitution had been ratified and adopted, and then the members of The Congress of the United States were elected and selected and took office then the new Congress would address the flaws which they believed were in the document. I think that if the Congress of the United States had functioned as members of Continental Congress had envisioned that they would, then changes and amendments that still haven't been made would have been made in The Constitution very early in the nation's history.
A nation, to be a nation, must function as a coherently functioning system. But a nation is not a natural construct that functions in accordance with the laws of nature. For a nation to exist and persist it must be able to do so while being in constant conflict with the most fundamental of the laws of nature. A nation must be maintained and sustained if it is to exist and persist. It is the citizens of a nation who must do the heavy lifting that is needed to maintain and sustain their nation. The only way that a nation's government can contribute is by pursuing policies that point the way and then smooth the road for the people and then provide effective leadership to the people.
If a nation's people rely on and ask their government to do the heavy lifting, then what they are really asking for is for their government to become an additional burden that the people have to carry along with the heavy lifting that the nation's people must do if their nation is to be maintained and sustained.
We, the people, are human beings. The persuasive power of effective leadership can accomplish far more than can the coercive power of legislation and regulation. But only if we, as human beings, can trust that those who would be our leaders will not lead us over a cliff or into a swamp for reasons of perceived personal political gain or gain of another kind for those who would pretend to be leading.