In nature and in human societies, change is the most lasting rule. An old adage says that the only thing that does not change is change itself.
My family history in America reinforces this rule. My ancestors arrived in America between 1640 and 1860, mostly before 1800. They would not recognize the nation that exists today, nearly everything has changed.
My great grandparents – Peter, Elizabeth, Nelson, Louisa, John, Martha, George and Mary – were born in the first third of the 19th century. The world human population was around 1 billion and the U.S. population only about 13 million. Their world did not include many things that we take for granted today. Something as basic as germ theory, the idea that viruses and bacteria can cause disease, was unknown. Transportation was totally different; primarily focused on horses.
Communication was also different. Electricity was not a commodity. The natural resources of America had not been exploited and pollution was found only in isolated areas where mining, lumbering and urban development proceeded without regulation. Television and social media were not even on the list of possible inventions. The lists of how life differed in the early years of the Industrial Revolution are very, very long.
Given the many fundamental aspects of American life that have changed, it seems to me that so-called “originalist” interpretations of our Constitution are either utterly foolish or diabolic in intent. Our forefathers had no ideas about the 21st century, but they did understand human nature and developed the Constitution on broad, humanistic principles fully expecting future generations to make specific technical changes to deal with new developments. The so-called conservative concept of following the exact wording of a document written almost 250 years ago is foolish. First step, abolish the Electoral College.
