You have really nailed it. It has been a long time since the Constitution as adopted has been in force. I suspect that the over-extension of democracy, wherein “dependent persons” have been allowed to vote, in contravention of the Founders’ intent, is the root of most ills. Imagine what the media would do with that inconvenient truth.
As part of the OWG minority, I have wondered: do I appreciate the Constitution as written because it was created by OWGs like myself (except wiser) to secure the advantage of IWGs? Or is it because the alternatives to free markets, the rule of law, a vibrant civil society, individual initiative and responsibility, etc., bring economic ruin and tyranny? We have to explain somehow that “sustainable compassion” requires big-picture, long-term thinking powered by enlightened self-interest.
The ability , the resilience, this country has had under the Constitution to maintain stable government with passage of power from one competing interest to the next within the rules of the framework is still its crowning glory. The incipient factionalism and even tribalism that you allude to is a threat to that, even as the dichotomy over slavery was. However, we got to stable succession sooner than anybody else, solved the age old nemesis of civilization, dating back to the ancient empires, and taught the world. How amazing that even today, the left celebrates Castro and Chavez and their like; that Putin perpetuates himself like a leech in Russia, etc, etc. Turn that sovereignty over to countries that haven’t even accomplished the first lesson? It shows the contemptible nature of people like Buzzie Ginsberg.