Like the one they were in at the time? Do you think that only a confederacy is safe from the misconstruction of greedy or ambitious men? Or from any of the other misadventures to which every society is subject?
Our Constitution was the best document of fundamental law ever devised by the minds of men. Right up to 1860. Right up even to 1913. Right up even to 1932. And, finally, right up to 1963. Since then it’s been mostly down hill.
None of which (the down hill part) was Madison’s doing. Inconsistent as he occasionally was.
Plot the points on a graph and see which way they point. The results are in.
No, but a confederacy provides safeguards that are impossible in a consolidated mega-state such as ours. The Articles of Confederation, for example, provided for "expressly delegated powers" only, which shuts the door on liberal construction. In fact, there was no judicial branch, which also, imo, is a safeguard. There is no direct taxation, yet another safeguard over the current system. etc.
The requisition system should have been fixed, not replaced. You want a real check on national power? Let all the national taxes come not from individuals, but from member states. Let each state determine for itself how to collect that money from its citizens. THAT would be a check on national spending. As it is, the states have to get in line behind the nationals.
(yea, I made a little time to respond after all.)
"I have sought for some middle ground, which may at once support a due supremacy of the national authority, and not exclude the local authorities wherever they can be subordinately useful."
Letter to G. Washington, New York, April 16 1787