There is a certain subspecies of conservatives in which the members seem impervious to the abundant evidence all around us that the constitution of the "founding fathers" is a dead letter and the American republic created in the late eighteenth century is now a relic of the past. One can identify this type of person based on certain slogans they are fond of saying such as “we must do something to preserve our freedoms guaranteed by the constitution.” Another common claim is that “the American experiement”—i.e., the republic created in the late eighteenth century—is still very much in force