quote: "This mindless Constitutionalism is problematic because it traps American political discourse in a historical, cultural, and ideological straight jacket."

Aided and abetted by faux doctrines like originalism from SCOTUS.

Regarding the EC- we are not even using that as was intended by Hamilton in the Federalist Papers. When created the EC electors could literally pick anyone they wanted for president. In the modern era, states passed laws to prevent "faithless electors" from doing so- locking the electors into rubber stamping their states' popular vote. The intent was to make the election more democratic, but actually it is less so because we don't use the popular vote

quote: The idea was to create an executive powerful enough to control Congress.

This is false- the Founders never intended for the president to be powerful enough to control Congress. They considered the US House the pre-eminent part of the government.

quote: you can call the Constitution a giant bait and switch scheme. It promises democracy, then takes that democracy away.

Absolutely- British historian Robert Harvey points this out in his book "A Few Bloody Noses": The Realities and Mythologies of the American Revolution." His conclusion is that by overturning the Articles of Confederation for the Constitution, the founders implemented an even more conservative powerful govt than they had experienced under Great Britain

As to the comment about Canada, I believe that the US didn't attack into Canada until after the war started. The territorial issues were originally due to the British support for the native American confederation of tribes northwest of the Ohio river where Americans wanted to expand. Largely ignored in our founding myths that we revolted due to taxation, part of the reason to split from Britain was that Britain had treaties with native tribes which was preventing white people from westward expansion. The British had a line down the Appalachian mountains as the border