The founders were certainly not perfect Men and the Constitution has endured far longer than any of them imagined it would. If the Constitution only lives when we amend it, then we are the ones who are fixing its meaning in time. We also engage in a hermeneutic game where scholars debate whose interpretation of which founder's intent is most accurate.

An amendment requires three quarters of the states to approve. Therefore it is next to impossible in highly polarized times. The conservative lock on the courts make it very unlikely that it will be permitted to "evolve" in order solve today's problems.

We could, as you suggest, rip it up and start from scratch, but that easily could lead to something worse or substantial violence.

I think we are at a moment where more and more Americans are realizing that our government cannot solve all of our problems. That may provide the impetus for significant reforms. Also, we might get a revitalized Federalism where more issues are resolved at the state and local level. Perhaps a return to "town meetings" as we still have in New England might provide a needed new birth of Democracy.