Trevor Burrus: Our endangered constitutional system By Trevor Burrus - Guest Columnist On July 4 some 245 years ago, the signing of the Declaration of Independence articulated the political ethos of the United States: a country founded on consent of the governed and rooted in the idea that governments exist to protect the natural rights of the citizens. Eleven years later, delegates met in the same place to draft a Constitution that would, they hoped, institutionalize those founding principles. How are things going today? Not so well on the governing front despite positive developments for human freedom. The structural aspects of our Constitution — those that delineate the various responsibilities for the branches of government — are badly damaged. Congress has largely delegated to the president its constitutional role to pass laws. The president and his agents can make sweeping changes to our policies at the stroke of a pen.