yes. that seems salutary. we want, even in the formal-US-Constitution sense to remember this is not just a bunch of regulations but a definition of our collective character. there are tensions, btw accessibility so we can all perform this essence + the detailed specifics legal shaping might require.

one thing that strike me as interesting at the present political moment is that the Declaration of Independence is part of our constitution in the sense of constituting us even if it functions at best obliquely as a source of legal limitations.