As this week's lecture points out, the Articles of Confederation had no checks on the legislature's power. The Constitution's Separation of Powers limited them.
Has the Constitution given us Big Government or has the widespread ignoring of the Constitution done so?
Read Joseph Story on the Commerce Clause and you'll see that the Constitution didn't give it to them. They just flat out took it.
Both, the constitution does not put limits on service to the country and demigods have arisen. It is not there fault but, the framers failed to see that congress (and public office, in general) would become a full time profession. If only they had inserted a statement to establish term limits or that congress must live by the rules they created, a big government mentality would have been much harder to establish.
The aforementioned book suggests a different reality. Somebody is wrong here. I have no idea who that might be, could be your impression or just as likely it could be mine. I suggest giving the book a look. We are all a combination of the “truths” we accept, with “truths” being far less abundant they we usually assume. The legislature during the confederation was damned for being too weak. The Shay’s Rebellion, the lack of pay, still, for the troops...our culture has certainly changed since then...and the culture is where we are. As distasteful as that is we’re stuck with it. There is a reason that all successful republics eventually fall, we live in interesting times. (p.s. The marxist takeover is almost complete.)