Founding Principles and Todays Politics

Summary: Is the Constitution as understood by the Founders at risk? If so, then how so, and what caused this? And would the passing of the Founders Constitution represent a grave threat (as Tea Partiers or Glenn Beck would have it) or rather a welcome moment in the progressive unfolding of basic principles of freedom and equality? Can our deepest constitutional concerns be addressed through ordinary political means, or are our problems fundamentally moral and spiritual?