Congress is violating the Constitution—and a $39 trillion debt is the proof

Most Americans can’t pass the U.S. citizenship test. Surveys put that number at roughly two in three. What’s more alarming: most Members of Congress are barely more informed about the document they swore an oath to protect.

That ignorance has a price tag—$39 trillion and climbing.

What the Framers Actually Built

The Constitution ratified in 1789 is a short, deliberately limited document. Its preamble runs just 52 words. Seven articles and ten amendments follow. 

The Framers—55 delegates, most educated in Latin, Greek, and classical rhetoric—weren’t building a government to run people’s lives. They were building a cage for government power.

About 20% of the Constitution itemizes things that the federal and state governments may not do. Only 10% is concerned with positive grants of power. The remaining 70% is structural: who holds power and how it........

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