About the constitution

[jokerman]

Well this goes down the heart of jurisprudence.  The reason that the constitution is held in a special position vis a vis normal statute is that it bears the same relationship to it that statute bears to individual action.  Just as laws limit the actions of individuals, the constitution limits the collective action of the body politic (or at the very least, as James Madison said, ensures that it is "the reason, alone, of the public, that controls and regulates the government.").

The kind of moral faith in the constitution described in the beginning of the thread is derived from this original idea.  It may be a blind "obsession," but it also a sign that a body politic is in working form.  Many other attempts at democracy have lacked this sort of reverence for a sacred constitution, and it has usually been the ultimate cause of their downfall.

Not that I'm suggesting its quite possible to create such a working form ad hoc out of history.  America in 1789 was far advanced down a line of Anglo cultural evolution.

And even for us the perfection of this form has a natural lifespan.  Whether it's because Americans lose their faith in the constitutional form or history makes the form obsolete (and of course both of these reciprocally reinforce each other), it will probably eventually fade away.