There is a lot of mythologizing about the U.S. Constitution. The founders had well learned the lessons of history and did a good job of distributing power. That they were not perfect is illustrated by the fact that they failed to anticipate and provide for the emergence of political parties despite the fact parties and factions were known to exist in all previous attempts at elective governments, were discussed during the convention, and were emerging at the convention. They also failed to foresee that the compromises made to allow for the continuation of slavery would lead to an extremely violent civil war in less than a century.
Majority rule has been the fundamental agreement underpinning democratic and republican governments since their inception. The fact that a party that has received fewer total votes in both the congressional and presidential elections has been able to claim power for decades and pack the courts with its ideologues is a clear sign that our design is flawed. Since it is quite clear that the wealthy and their political lackeys have no intention of correcting these flaws, it would appear that resentment will fester in the disadvantaged majority until violence and disorder overwhelm the society and force changes.
I will soon be 69 years old and had rather hoped to be gone before things collapsed. However, I keep reading that Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security will place the government in financial crisis at sometime in the next 5 to 15 years. (If Wall Street doesn't screw up again and wreck the global economy first.) McConnell, Ryan, and Trump are feverishly working on a tax "reform" package that projects to accelerate the growth of treasury debt. Mom just passed away at the age of 90, but Dad is doing quite well for a 92 year old man. (Not that most men live that long.) It really looks like my plans are to be thwarted. I hate it when that happens.
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