So, the Federal Courts, provided by the Constitution, protect us from authoritarian government. Interesting that you should say that.
So, the Federal Courts protect us from authoritarian government, but the Constitution does not protect us from the people in the society which it governs. I had no idea that your faith in the Federal Court system was so strong or that you felt that the Constitution was so weak in providing protection from our worst impulses.
The Constitution protects minority viewpoints from majority rule with the bill of rights. But not necessarily from acting foolishly in other ways. By demanding the government give us "free stuff" yet keeping our taxes low, we bankrupt the treasury and ourselves. You're a student of the Federalist Papers where they talked about this. They tried to protect the country from such foolishness by having electors vote for the president. Also, the election of Senators were originally through the state legislatures. Now it's by direct vote by the people. Since people can demand from their elected officials by the power of the election booth, we're reaching the point where the country will be really hurt by printing money for spending.
Actually, the constitution protects us against some of this. The founders knew that printing money is dangerous. They lived through the Revolutionary War when the colonies printed Continental currency to no end. "Isn't worth a Continental" was an expression used then acknowledging the danger of paper money. So the founder included in the constitution that required coining. That meant that gold and silver were to be the money we used. But the Supreme Court allowed congress and President Nixon to take us off the gold standard. It allowed the Federal reserve the power to print fiat currency without backing up money. These things were unconstitutional. But the Supremes allowed it to happen. When I was younger, I remember Silver Certificates. These dollars were redeemable in silver. There were gold certificates as well. Long gone. Today, look at your dollar. All it says is Federal Reserve Note. (What do Euors say? Canadian dollars say what?) It's not backed up with anything. It is only an IOU between me and you. Of course you'd argue that times have changed. But they hadn't. "Isn't worth a dollar" will be a similar cry very soon.
