Why the Constitution Is Relevant Today

[Valin]

Pajamas Media:

Those who mock the Constitution have it backwards.
Barry Rubin
January 6, 2011

There has been a great deal of discussion in the United States about the Constitution — despite the fact that it was promulgated over two centuries ago — and whether it is relevant to contemporary America. I’d like to remark briefly on this.

The founders of the United States were not merely technicians setting up an administrative framework and a set of rules. They had pondered long and hard over the lessons of long-term history as to why republics had always seemed to fail and how governments had tended over time to become tyrannical.

From this study, debate, and analysis, their most important conclusion was that human beings could not be trusted with power. Those who had power — at least many or most of them — would misuse it to make themselves wealthy; to order around others; to hold onto office; to increase their authority; and to benefit themselves, their friends, and their supporters.

What was the solution? Their unanimous conclusion was that two safeguards were needed:
(Snip)