"Our constitution has failed" - Ron Paul, upon retiring

"The problem isn't just government's size, but its use of force, both in starting preemptive wars and as it coerces U.S. citizens with police power. To Paul, this is the fault of Americans who no longer prioritize liberty, and it will lead to the unraveling of orderly society unless people change."

1. At the time the Constitution was ratified, the US had effective control to the Alleghanies and in a few enclaves beyond along the rivers. By 1852, California was a state. Yes, the Missouri Purchase was a purchase, but there was a lot of warfare involved in getting control of it. Yes, various other tracts were bought, but usually with the implicit threat of force, or in settlement of a war. So the founders were pacifists only to the extent that it suited them.

2. Jefferson's administration found itself minutely regulation coastal trade to enforce the embargo. Jefferson had been in great sympathy with the Pennsylvanians during the "Whiskey Rebellion", but the embargo was his own to defend.

3. One suffers from a kind of optical illusion if one considers the Constitution per se. It set out the rules for the federal government, not for the states, which were a much larger presence in most lives.

I am not saying that we should be happy with the state of the union, just that imagining a splendid past has its pitfalls.

What are some ways the founding fathers could have prevented what Ron Paul sees happening to this country?