Our Non-Constitutional Form of Government Is Dysfunctional

It’s past time for our government to return to its roots.

Allan J. Feifer | September 23, 2026

Much of the general malaise gripping our nation stems from a growing consensus that our form of government no longer fits the task. While we can still trumpet that we have the best form of government compared with other major pluralistic countries, we can no longer describe ourselves as nimble, efficient, and effective at the scale and speed of today’s problems, technologies, and social pressures. I can distrust government while still accepting its necessity. Is it too much to ask that government actually serve our citizens more than it serves itself?

America’s problems aren’t because our constitutional system is obsolete, but because we have expanded government to a point where clarity, accountability, and adaptability have disappeared. We still possess one of the world’s most admired constitutional frameworks, yet it struggles to decide, execute, correct, and adapt. The result is not merely bad government, but incoherent government.

How Government Became Incoherent:

The Constitution was designed for a smaller, more limited republican form of government. Over the last century, government expanded dramatically. Agencies, regulations, entitlement programs, administrative bodies, contractors, commissions, and layers of bureaucracy accumulated without meaningful pruning. New problems generate new institutions, while obsolete ones linger. Complexity grows; accountability disappears.

The separation of powers was meant to prevent tyranny, not lead to paralysis. Congress increasingly abdicates its responsibilities, with the Judiciary filling the vacuum, often forced to step in to settle government dysfunction. The result is a bitter struggle among the branches. Each can obstruct the others, but none can compel coherent action.

Bureaucracies outlast administrations. Agencies write rules, interpret statutes, enforce regulations, and develop their own interests. Leadership changes, but the machinery persists. When........

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