I mean, really: the situation in Chester Arthur’s day apparently had its points.
Henry Adams, the disillusioned sage of the era, famously described the political life of the country after the Civil War in less-than-glowing terms: “The government does not govern. Congress is inefficient, and shows itself more and more incompetent to wield the enormous powers that are forced upon it, while the Executive is practically devoid of its necessary strengths by the jealousy of the Legislature.” James Bryce, the English commentator who saw America with at least as much perspicacity as Americans saw themselves, remarked that “an American may through a long life never be reminded of the Federal Government, except when he votes at presidential and congressional elections, lodges a complaint against the post-office, and opens his trunks for a custom-house official on the pier of New York.”
Not perfect, mind you. I’m not actually a libertarian: I like having a comprehensive transportation net (which is something that a lot of political and economic theories seem to have a lot of trouble with, in my opinion). But it’d be better than the unholy fusionist Trinity of Keynes, Wilson, and Alinksy that we’re suffering from now.
The Arguement for the 16th Amendment was that the federal government would take more interest in the “common” man. Yeah, that happen. And it kept happening.
Ah, yes … the old adage:
“Sure, the U.S. Constitution isn’t perfect, but it’s way better than what we’ve got now.”