No worries on tone. I do my level best to always assume good faith, and temper that with the knowledge that smart, reasonable people often disagree very loudly

No worries on tone. I do my level best to always assume good faith, and temper that with the knowledge that smart, reasonable people often disagree very loudly. ;-) As for my statement on originalism, I don't believe it untrue, but I do believe it was poorly stated. The two basic schools of thought express the judiciary requirement to either pay heed to original intent or original meaning, with perhaps strict constructionism coloring either side of the equation. Regardless, I think that my intent remains true, which is that politicians too often disregard both the original meaning, the original intent, or any strict or loose construction of the Constitution in order to bend the Constitution, through verbal gymnastics, into abstractly supporting whatever thing it is that they want supported. In short, it is simply disregarded, and if a Constitutional challenge is posed, it is easily circumvented by hand-waving and word play. This, despite the primary job of the federal government (IMO at least) is to uphold the Constitution, and every member of the legislature, executive and judiciary having sworn an oath to uphold it.