[DiogenesLamp]

Do you think the United States is still a mistake?

As a collection of independent states who wanted independence from a government they viewed as oppressive and tyrannical, the United States was not a mistake.

But as the government evolved into the same thing the original 13 colonies fled, it became a mistake.

In 1861 we departed from being a coalition of the willing to become a coalition of the compelled. That's not what the founders created.

[Ditto]

But as the government evolved into the same thing the original 13 colonies fled, it became a mistake.

Really? What had the government done to them that made them want to leave. How had the Federal government of 1861 become like the British government of 1775?

In 1861 we departed from being a coalition of the willing to become a coalition of the compelled. That's not what the founders created.

So you think the Framers thought the Constitution was just a suggestion? What was theSouth being compelled to do?

[FLT-bird]

In 1861 we departed from being a coalition of the willing to become a coalition of the compelled. That's not what the founders created.

Exactly. The union was not saved. It was destroyed. The original decentralized union of sovereign states based on consent the Founding Fathers created was replaced by a centralized union based on force, threats and violence.