The Constitution was designed to restrain government and prevent tyranny, but what happens when those in power claim the right to rewrite the rules?

One vision, rooted in the Founders’ Constitution, limits federal authority to clearly defined powers. The other, emerging from Woodrow Wilson’s early 20th-century progressivism, reimagines the Constitution as a flexible document, evolving with societal needs. This “living” interpretation has fueled decades of expansion, from FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s Great Society to today’s sweeping entitlements and executive actions.

As rights shift from freedoms (speech, religion) to entitlements (healthcare, housing, identity), the cost of government explodes, crowding out investment, driving up debt, and eroding individual responsibility. The affordability crisis in healthcare can be traced all the way back to this constitutional drift, revealing how moral intentions have led to economic dysfunction.

If each side plays by different rules (or no rules at all), can a nation still call itself governed by law?

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