'History is old': Atlantic writer blames Framers for 'constitutional malfunction'

Sarah D. | 2:05 PM on November 18, 2014

And we’d expect nothing less from the likes of The Atlantic:

Imperfect union: The Constitution didn't foresee a divided government http://t.co/4qYjxqdQ1l pic.twitter.com/wsi803XXfl

— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) November 18, 2014

Wait … what?

https://twitter.com/chuck_dizzle/status/534720705321902082

Oh, it’s a serious assertion, all right. More from writer Garrett Epps, who just so happens to be a constitutional law professor:

How does the coming duel between legislative and executive branch fit into the design of our Constitution?

The answer to the last question is easy. What’s coming will be painful, frustrating, and dangerous—and it will illustrate a constitutional malfunction unforeseen in 1787. The country will survive, and it’s possible it can even make progress—but at tremendous cost in polarization and missed opportunity. The country is like a car driving with the handbrake on: Any movement forward will be accompanied by smoke and internal damage.

So we might profitably put a six-month moratorium on paeans to the wisdom of the Framers. The problem of divided government is a bug, not a feature, and the Constitution itself provides no guidance on how to work around it.

Yeah, those Framers really screwed the pooch on that whole Constitution thing!

https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/534719477582413824