Changing Government In America

OUR CONSTITUTION, and form of government in the United States, we sometimes forget, was not our first choice. The founders originally created something called the "Articles of Confederation", which lasted a little over a decade, and was a complete disaster. The American revolution was a protest against tyrannical government, and the last thing the newly independent United States wanted was a powerful, strong government. Under the Articles of confederation, the states basically acted as their own independent nations, loosely united by a promise to unite in mutual defense, if and only if necessary. The was no national currency system, no national legal system, no national defense to speak of. Nothing got done, because the thirteen little independent countries couldn't agree on anything. (That sounds rather American, doesn't it?) So, under the system which replaced the Articles of Confederation, the one we have now, the federal government was strengthened considerably, and the states themselves were less independent, more united into a single country. And maybe, just maybe, the American federal government was made too powerful in 1787, maybe its gotten more powrful over the past 225 years, and maybe is far too powerful now. But we in America seem to have a nice balance between state, local, and federal government. All over America states are legalizing marijuana and gay marriage, in direct defiance of the government in Washington. And yet, you'll have to admit, the government in Washington does a good job of maintaining a strong American military, for instance. Maybe too good. And it may come to pass that we someday decide to change government again in America. It wouldn't hurt to at least "tidy up" the constitution a bit. Like, take out the prohibition and repeal of prohibition amendments. And take out the part where blacks are three fifths of a human being. And, in the name of sanity, rewrite, and clarify, the second amendment.