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pretiesensiesgamblingcare. I'm John Batchel.

Happily with my colleague and friend Gregory Copley, his new book, The Noble State, Governance Options in an Ignoble era.

The story so far, 250 years ago, it's a round number.

There was a trend in the world, and it was talked about admiringly and

curiously from Europe. A republic, if you can keep it. That's a quote from Ben Franklin.

I've always been taught that that was a high point. I'm beginning to wander. Gregory, you

observe at that point the United States had a constitution, and then it had

the peace of Paris in 1783, and there was a need to transform the state from a confederation

into a federal republic. That underwent a lot of debate, was passed eventually, and George Washington becomes

the first president.

However, what happened then is that the country grew, and you observe that the Constitution,

because it would become so difficult to change it, froze the Republic.

That was not a problem through the 19th century, because we were growing very quickly in the United States. That was not a problem through the 19th century because we were growing

very quickly in the United States. It's become a problem now. Do I read you correctly?

Yes, up to a point. I think the Constitution is still the thing which holds the United States

together. And the Constitution of the United States was written in such a way, even with the

amendments, that it in fact is the de facto crown of the United States. It's above politics.

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