That de Tocqueville was one shrewd dude. I once read a quote from him to the effect that people in a democracy will allow government to be far more intrusive in their lives than people living under a king would, because they feel the government is representing them. They will allow a thousand petty tyrannies because it’s “us” doing it instead of “them”. Of course he was far more eloquent and persuasive.
“I was born in a welfare state, ruled by bureaucracy
Controlled by civil servants and people dressed in gray
Got no privacy, got no liberty
‘Cos the twentieth century people
Took it all away from me.....”
Ray Davies 20th Century Man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD14kdgQEe8
If you don’t have contempt for this monster, there is something not quite right with you.
And most other governments are even worse.
There is a precedent replacing a dysfunctional governing document. The US Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation.
The US Constitution was initially ratified by nine of thirteen States pursuant to Article VII. The US Constitution became binding upon those nine States, 1788. Notice of this ratification was received by Continental Congress on July 2, 1788.
On September 13, 1788, Congress adopted a resolution declaring that electors should be appointed in the ratifying States on the first Wednesday in January, 1789; that the electors vote for President on the first Wednesday in February, 1789; and that “the first Wednesday in March next [March 4, 1789] be the time and the present seat of Congress the place for commencing proceedings under the said constitution.” On March 3, 1789, the old Confederation went out of existence and on March 4 the new government of the United States began legally to function, according to a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States (Wings v. Speed, 5 Wheat. 420).