Op-ed Contributor: Our Imbecilic Constitution.

Advocating the adoption of the new Constitution drafted in Philadelphia, the authors of ''The Federalist Papers'' mocked the ''imbecility'' of the weak central government created by the Articles of Confederation. Nearly 225 years later, critics across the spectrum call the American political system dysfunctional, even pathological. What they don't mention, though, is the role of the Constitution itself in generating the pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]