The entire system is flawed. A Constitutional Republic form of gov't was established to minimize the reliance upon gov't. Early Americans were smart enough to create a nation that protected a simple system intended to maximize the ability and capability of the individual to navigate life on their own and control their own destiny. Personal responsibility and hard work were for a long time in our history honored - not penalized.

Modern day politics attracts the worst type of people ... control freaks and dishonest manipulative personalities that stupidly believe they are smarter than everyone else, and dumbed down voters allows them to continue to create rules and regulations that apply to everyone but themselves (and their financial friends and associates).

You ask, "whose fault is that"? It's all our our faults, because our system of government is us ... we are in charge. We the people have allowed gov't to become a highly paid career field and it has evolved into an "us versus them" situation. They make the rules and we pay for it - whether we like it or not.

Margaret Thacher said it best, "socialism fails when you run out of other peoples' money".

The best and brightest should lead, assuming that they desire to take office.

The gov't as it was established (as you noted) was done so by said Federalists and was also built in a country were 95% had no voting rights and lived in extremely rural areas. To compare the desires and precticality of their situation to our modern, urban, interdependent society is a tad presumptious to say the least. I do agree with your premise but fail to see how we could put it into practice having come this far. What we need to do is a better job of vetting our candidates and increasing the interest level among all voting aged citizens.

Great theory, but in practice control freaks, manipulative personalities, and self-annointed elitists determine who among us is the "best and brightest" .... somehow this list of smart people always includes their friends, family, and political supporters. And you honestly think our state reps are worth their taxpayer supplied per diem?
Oh, I get it .... you advocate that our Constitution becomes a "living document" so that the "best and the brightest" can determine how more gov't control can fix society's ills. Tyranny versus freedom. A quick review of world history will show how more gov't doesn't work.

Freewheeling capitalism may not be the fairest economic system, but centralized control always ends badly.

I always thought that John Heinz was an excellent Senator. Intelligent, articulate and committed. Plus he had enough money that he could not be bought by special interest. He did not need to play the game for financial support from particular factions.

Could we agree on a Benevolant Dictator?