“I agree. The Constitution is a total failure when it comes to limited powers. That’s a proven fact. So, what shall we replace it with?”
I don’t know. The progressives may have found the fatal flaw in any system of representative limited government. If, somehow, we could make America limited government again, the odds are that a generation or two from now, a new group of progressives would blow the whole thing up again, with the consent of the governed. They just keep trying and eventually they get enough power for enough time to ruin things.
If you have to look at a turning point in American history, it was when women got to vote. I know that’s not PC. But the progressive argument has consistently made sense to women and gotten very little traction among men. The progressive experiment in America probably never would have occurred had the franchise been limited to men.
Women’s suffrage seemed and seems like a really good idea. But objectively it may have been the single decision America made that relegated a republic of limited powers to the dustbin of history.
The American revolution was pretty much a single point in history. Revolutions usually end up a lot less successful than the American revolution, even if well-intended (by that I mean the French revolution was a well-intended failure but the Russian revolution was evil thru and thru—and a failure also). Sooner or later, even if the intention is good, here comes Robespierre.
The key to limiting government is to not create a big one. That was the mistake of the framers. They thought they could keep the lion in the cage, when in reality you just can't allow there to be a lion.
A confederacy of states is the way to go. Let the progressives f up their own states. No national government---just a confederation. No house of reps. No direct taxes. Expressed powers only. No permanent judiciary.
You may be right that people will screw up whatever system they get. It's possible some problems simply don't have solutions. I just think creating a national republic was a mistake, and begged for trouble when they could have/should have simply amended the old confederation.