Interesting article. I haven’t read it all the way through, but I strongly disagree with one key point by the author. I don’t think the Civil War was not the first step in the demise of this nation as envisioned by its founders. In fact, I would make the case that this vision of freedom and liberty lasted very long at all . . . and basically ended with the events surrounding the Whiskey Rebellion in the early 1790s. That was the first major clash between the ideas of Federal and State governance, and the Feds “won” — in a sense that they had no qualms about sending Federal troops from one state to quell an apparent insurrection in another.
Hard to argue against that and I don't know what criteria the author used to make his determinations. As most are aware by now, Hamilton and his statist cabal began attacking around the periphery of our Constitution before the ink was dry. The first Chief Justice and fellow statist at times, John Marshall, contributed mightily to weakening the bindings also. A matter of degree I suppose...