"The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so 
  let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so 
  the second will not become the legalized version of the first." 
  -- Thomas Jefferson 

Whatever happened to the US Constitution?

"The [U.S.] Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals ... it does not prescribe the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government ... it is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen's protection against the government." --Ayn Rand

This is no longer the case. Now government prescribes the conduct of private individuals in almost all aspects of life. America has become the very opposite of what was intended. How could this have happened?

The US Constitution can be amended.

"The American republic has been dead since at least 1913...In the year 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified giving Congress the power to collect taxes on incomes.  That same year the states also ratified the Seventeenth Amendment, which established direct election of Senators by popular vote.  Then, before the year concluded, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was passed delegating the right to issue money from Congress to the Federal Reserve.

After the events of 1913, the American republic ceased to exist...In short, the Seventeenth Amendment allows the Senate to buy votes from their constituents in exchange for delivering federal money back to their districts... It also rewards political corruption and public graft." (source)

Continue with Part 2 - Transition to Democracy here.

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