Today's Evidence

Every so often we look around and think to ourselves, ''Just how in Tophet did we get into THIS mess?'' It's not terribly difficult to cause such a reaction, the latest economic reports, or the latest blatherings out of the White House, or Congress, or MSNBC, or the NY Slimes, or some other idiocy, will do just fine.
How did things get into this fix, after such a great beginning to the nation?
Some of this you can see if you look back at the path taken, compare it to what we were supposed to be going, and look for some veerings along the way.
Here's a book that does a great service along those lines. Living Constitution, Dying Faith: Progressivism and the New Science of Jurisprudence (American Ideals & Institutions) by Bradley Watson, available here.
And here is a better appreciation of the matter than I can give.