Human Nature Wins Again

Why the 21st Century Still Needs 18th-Century Wisdom of the US Constitution

Photo by Larry Alger on Unsplash

The Great Lie of Postmodernism

One of the most dangerous lies of postmodernism is the notion that modern humans are fundamentally different from those who lived centuries ago. We are told that because technology has advanced, our moral framework, instincts, and nature have evolved as well. It’s a comforting illusion, one that flatters our pride while eroding the foundations of liberty.

This belief fuels the argument that America’s founding documents, written in the 18th century, are outdated relics of a simpler time. Critics insist that a Constitution written with quills and parchment cannot possibly govern a society ruled by microchips and algorithms. They suggest that we need a “living document”, one that evolves with cultural trends and modern sensibilities.

But the truth is far more sobering and far more liberating: human nature has not changed.

We are the same creatures — capable of love and cruelty, reason and folly, virtue and vice — as those who drafted the Constitution. Our tools may have evolved, but our temptations remain identical. The smartphone may be new, but the pride that drives us to display our lives on it is ancient. Artificial intelligence may be novel, but the lust for power it amplifies is as old as Eden.

The Immutable Nature of Man

The Founders understood something profound about the human condition: that man is both noble and fallen. They built a government not upon the illusion of human perfectibility, but upon the reality of human imperfection.

James Madison, in Federalist No. 51, wrote:

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

That statement is as true in 2025 as it was in 1788. The entire framework of the Constitution, checks and balances, separation of powers, federalism, exists because of a deep understanding of human frailty. Power corrupts, and ambition must be made to counteract ambition.

This is not cynicism. It is wisdom. It is the humility to see man as he is, not as he imagines himself to be.

The modern technocrat believes he can code his way out of the human condition. He trusts in algorithms, bureaucracies, and policies to “fix” people. But the founders trusted in something older, the divine order of natural law, the agency of the individual, and the self-evident truths that do not bend to the times.

Technology Changes — Human Nature Does Not

Yes, our methods of communication have changed. The printing press gave way to the radio; the radio to television; television to the internet. But none of these tools altered the essence of man.

Lust, greed, envy, and pride, the same vices that brought down empires long before America, still dominate our politics, our markets, and our culture. Likewise, the virtues that built civilizations, courage, faith, humility, and integrity, remain the only antidotes to chaos.

To believe that our gadgets make us morally superior is to mistake convenience for virtue. A man with a smartphone is not wiser than a man with a sword; he simply wields a different tool. The technology may be new, but the soul that uses it is ancient.

The Constitution: A Mirror of Human Nature

The United States Constitution was not written for a particular century, it was written for a particular species. It was designed to govern human beings, not human inventions.

Every clause, every check, every right enshrined in that document flows from a deep understanding of the human soul. The Constitution assumes that people will pursue their interests, that leaders will seek power, and that only by limiting government can liberty be preserved.

When critics say we need to “update” the Constitution to reflect modern realities, what they often mean is that they want to bypass its constraints. They wish to grant more power to central authorities, more control to bureaucracies, and less freedom to individuals, all under the guise of modernization.

But liberty does not expire with time. The right to speak freely, to defend oneself, to worship God, and to live without coercion are not 18th-century luxuries; they are eternal truths.

The Founders did not design a fragile document. They designed a durable one, anchored in unchanging moral reality. To discard it because we think ourselves wiser is to repeat the same hubris that has undone nations before us.