The 16th amendment, allowing the federal government to collect income taxes, passed in 1909. This gave tremendous power to the federal government that was never intended by the founders.
The 17th amendment, allowing direct election of senators, was passed in 1912. It eroded states rights.
When the progressives found that they could amend the constitution to prohibit alcohol consumption (even though it was later repealed), they knew they were off to the races. If you can get an amendment to alter people's behavior to that extent, you can do anything.
Later amendments to allow women the vote, and to extend the vote to 18 year olds brought two huge voting blocks into play who would be easy for progressives to manipulate.
You can blame Bush if you want, but this trend started over a century ago. The blame goes all the way back to Woodrow Wilson, democrat, racist, progressive.
Under a legal amendment process, Americans have morphed their representative republic into a mobocracy. Empires rise and fall, see Rome. I figure we are at about 230 AD and heading fast for a fall.
I have for a long time believed that the years of President Wilson were just a noticeable political fence post in the subjugation of the USA Constitution to foreign powers, government, and especially financial. Europeans in the ilk of the Rothchilds were dismayed and frightened by the rise of a free government such as the USA. The depression years of the 1930s was a big opportunity for the socialism and elitism of FDR who tried to pack the SC so he would have favorable rulings for his programs. WWII made FDR stop and take a look at what was going on in the world. The USA by then was betwixt and between the two terrible groups of fascism and socialism. I’m sure a choice had to be made and for the USA looking at the guns of Japan the better choice was made. However, after extricating the Nation from the choice of WWII the politicians in the USA again under foreign influences put the USA on the political auction block such as the United Nations. It has been such for years but now exacerbated by all the feely-goody indoctrination especially as to Muslims, Latinos and even Eastern European criminal refugees.