James Madisonand the Proper Interpretation of the Constitution

On the proper interpretation of the Constitution:

"… I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution. And if that be not the guide in expounding it, there can be no security for a consistent and stable, more than for a faithful exercise of its powers. If the meaning of the text be sought in the changeable meaning of the words composing it, it is evident that the shape and attributes of the Government must partake of the changes to which the words and phrases of all living languages are constantly subject. What a metamorphosis would be produced in the code of law if all its ancient phraseology were to be taken in its modern sense!"

No originalist could have better made the case for respecting the Constitution as written.

Then how are we to interpret the supreme law of the land in the wake of every changing social situations and technological innovations?

Simple. .. the Tenth Amendment:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Since when did we get the ignorant notion that the federal government should have a say on every issue which the American people? Part of the Genius of the Constitution is the subtle, simple trust in the American people to make these decisions for themselves, whether they want to or not, whether they are capable individually or not.

Madison provided safeguards within the document, at least in word and parchment, that would defend the rights of states and citizens in the face of word-munching bowdlerizers who would distort the simple meaning of the Constitution to serve complex and perverse ends inimical to personal freedom and limited government.

Sadly, Madison did not institute a featured process for interpreting disputes and disagreements on the fullest sense of the Constitution--apart from the establishment of a federal judiciary, whose activist tendencies have bordered on arrogant and atavistic in their implications.