"..."Our peculiar security is in possession of a written Constitution..."

"..."Our peculiar security is in possession of a written Constitution," [Thomas] Jefferson advised us. "Let us not make it a blank paper by construction."  Jefferson was afraid, in other words, that we would allow our government to interpret the Constitution so broadly that we may as well be governed by a blank piece of paper.  The limitations the Constitution placed on the federal government had to be taken seriously if we expected to maintain a free society."  -Page 45 of The Revolution, A Manifesto