Juan Cole can't understand. . .

[sirs]

"Flexibility", at least for the fringes of ideology, come in to play when one needs to mutate the clear meaning of the Constitution to fit an agenda & programs, that largely runs counter to the clear intentions of the founders, the Constitution, and the crystal clear limitations that were to be placed on Government

[Plane]

I don't think they were intentionally ambiguous on issues which were apparent at the time.  Ambiguity would make no sense, certainly there would be some issues that were difficult to resolve but what was the point of all the congresses, caucuses, meetings, debates etc. if not to resolve or compromise thorny issues?  (I stand to be corrected with regard to issues which you claim were publicly debated but never addressed in the final draft.)  I think flexibility comes into the picture mainly if not exclusively in cases which could not be foreseen in the 18th century but resulted from the centuries of progress thereafter in society and human knowledge and capabilities.

Those guys were way smarter than you think .

[Michael Tee]

<<Those guys were way smarter than you think .>>

Hey as far as I'm concerned, they were the best political scientists the world has ever seen.  They certainly were not "way smarter" than I think.

[Plane]

<<Those guys were way smarter than you think .>>

Hey as far as I'm concerned, they were the best political scientists the world has ever seen.  They certainly were not "way smarter" than I think.

The composition began years before the actual convention at which it was written.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Papers