I used to have great respect for the Constitution too, but I understand now that it fails on one massively important point; it assumes, and creates, a powerful federal government. Hell, that was the whole point of the constitutional conventions in the first place; the government created by the Articles of Confederation was seen as too weak!

All that being said, I wouldn't mind too terribly a federal government that actually adhered to the Constitution we have now, rather than finding asterisks spattered all over it that aren't really there.