Thanks Tim!

I don't think that most young people care much about the Constitution or what the founding fathers wanted.

In some respects, it's being looked upon as a "dark" time in our history because slavery was legal and some of our leaders owned slaves.

Of course slavery is an abhorrent condition with no justification today but it was legal and accepted by those raised with it. The same men who were the most powerful and obtained positions of leadership , would obviously be rich and be the most likely to own slaves.

So it's not for ethical reasons that they owned slaves but because they were the rich and powerful of that day.

Regardless, I think that this has tarnished their reputations and seriously, the world is so different today that people just don't connect with many of the principles that guided our leaders and country back then........even if they have solid applications that stand up thru time. 

Entities today look for ways to manipulate people and the system to advance their agenda by whatever means necessary.  They have a belief system and objective and if they need to smear the other side or twist the facts in order to impose their belief system, this is the rule of order. There are so many effective tools to accomplish this and so many willing brains to be convinced to drink the Kool-Aid, even as they are taught that the stuff they are addictively chugging down daily is not really Kool-Aid, it's magical truth juice that allows them to be able to see all truths clearly, which is why only they and their side always have it right and the other side has it wrong every time.

You can't understand the content of the constitution and the intent of the founders and not care...

One of the important basic principles that was a driving force in the architecture of this nations rules was the avoidance of democratic (mob) rule. That's why each state gets 2 senators regardless of it's size.  That's why we have the electoral college. 

Side note...  We've allowed the senate to become a powerful house of representatives as today's senate is nearly indistinguishable from the house.  Prior to the 17th amendment, Senators were appointed by state governments and their primary function was to ensure that the house did not write laws that infringed on state's rights. A significant aspect of the "checks and balances" that we have lost.  Now,  they posture and campaign  for the popular vote just like representatives. It's a major factor in the uncontrolled growth of our federal government.  Edit note:  Think of the House of Representatives as representatives of the people, hence the varying #'s of congressional districts based on population. The Senate was meant to represent the states, hence the fixed number of 2 per state.

Another side note.. . The founders started a war over far less oppression than we accept today. Refer to the frog in the slowly heated pot of water.

https://fee.org/articles/alexis-de-tocqueville-15-quotes-on-democracy-and-liberty/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1Za0gPel4gIViv5kCh1SjA3jEAAYASAAEgJQGfD_BwE

It has been said of Alexis de Tocqueville that “no authority on America has equaled him in prophetic vision.” When we view how much political determination, in which “the ever increasing despotism of the majority…makes every eye turn to the state,” has displaced freedom, it is hard to disagree.  

The centrality of liberty to Democracy in America can be encapsulated by two of its key statements: “[Citizens’] chief business…is to remain their own masters,” recognizing that “to neglect to hold [liberty] fast is to allow it to escape.” Americans desperately need to heed his insights again.

Quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville 

"The Revolution... was the result of a mature and reflecting preference for freedom, and not of a vague or ill-defined craving for independence."

"The Federal Constitution... disavowed beforehand the habitual use of compulsion in enforcing the decisions of the majority."

"The democratic tendency... leads men unceasingly to multiply the privileges of the state and to circumscribe the rights of private persons... often sacrificed without regret and almost always violated without remorse... men become less and less attached to private rights just when it is most necessary to retain and defend what little remains of them."

"Defending rights against the encroachments of the government saves the common liberties of the country."

"To lay down... limits to the action of the government; to confer certain rights on private persons, and to secure to them the undisputed enjoyment of those rights... [are] the main objects."

Great quotes from a great mind Carl.

Tocqueville said it best, but I like the simplicity of...

The only thing more important than states rights are individual rights.

Thanks guys.