"Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons"

The Founders made a big mistake in choosing a federal system over a parliamentary system. They did not foresee that not every president would be decent, stable and intelligent like George Washington. Every president since him has been one long slide to perdition. A strong president means that one man can have a psychotic break and launch a lot of nuclear missiles or, worse, talk about tactical nukes and first strikes. You know, like Bush. The Founders did not foresee standing armies, standing navies; they could not imagine an air force, space weapons, and nuclear, biological nor chemical weapons. Congress is supposed to declare war. Not the president. That is in the Constitution. I didn't make it up.