the question is, we the people, as it says toward the bottom of my tie. who are these people? are they really speaking? did morris ventriloquize the american people? did they in one moment speak aloud and say, yes, this will be our law? what were the procedures that get us to the ratification? it's a complicated story. eventually madison, who of course argues against this notion of generational sovereignty. it's not practical, it's not prudent. will, in his emphasis on the state ratifying conventions, say, that was where the people came together in their capacity as citizens of their states or representatives of the citizens of their states to speak and to give life to this document. we the people is just a hope when it's written in the constitution. it becomes real as the people speak. but as i say, the people. do they speak once and then be silent for the rest of time? no. so jefferson has these two answers. the first is, as i see it, along a temporal axis through time, that we need a constitutional renewal every generation. i think most civic-minded americans would agree, though the last thing any of us want right now is a constitutional conven