So, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg believes that the public’s interpretation of the Constitution must evolve in the face of terror attacks such as the one in Boston. “You’re going to have to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days,” the man explained, “and our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change.”

Of course he thinks they do. That’s why we have constitutions — so they can be changed in tumultuous times. As Bloomberg sees it, the first obligation of government is to keep your “children safe.” How this wide-ranging duty affects other societal concerns — liberty, cost, etc. — is largely irrelevant because … well, because toddlers are cute. Those tobacco-addicted Founding Fathers didn’t have the decency to include a single line about keeping Americans salubrious or children.