Max Boot

Thomas Jefferson rejected the tendency to “look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the arc of the covenant, too sacred to be touched.” He argued “that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times.” We need not go as far as Jefferson did in urging that “every constitution … and every law” should expire every 19 years. But our institutions do need to be significantly reformed to “keep pace with the times.” (2022) source Unverified