Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

  — Robert Frost, 1874 - 1963

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Robert Frost's famous poem has nothing to do with the U.S. Constitution, but I can't help but feel a similar sentiment about it.

Clearly, Thomas Jefferson was right when he wrote this to Edward Carrington back in 1788 —

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http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-13-02-0120

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yeild, and government to gain ground."

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The U.S. Constitution is such an anomaly in human history, and given the normal dictatorial state of most governments, it's shocking that most Americans show such little appreciation for the limits the Constitution places on government.

Think about one of the main purposes of the Constitution, and what that purpose says about the intentions of the founders.  The U.S. Constitution writes into law a procedure for regularly replacing members of government — that is, the U.S. has a legal requirement that politicians re-compete for their jobs at regular intervals.

But note that today, political challengers have very little chance of defeating an incumbent in an election.  The public has essentially established a permanent ruling class, even though the U.S. Constitution was clearly written to prevent it.  Who's fault is that?

Here are bar charts showing the reelection rates for the U.S. House and Senate going back to 1964, from the 'Center for Responsive Politics' —

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https://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/reelect.php

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And notice that the vast majority of Americans believe any law that seems intended to help promote the 'general welfare' is constitutional.  But why would the founders go to the trouble of enumerating powers in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, if the intent were for government to do anything, as long as a majority could claim the 'general welfare' were supposedly being served?

So then, what are the enumerated powers in Article 1, Section 8 —  a hint at how to get started?