The executive branch really is the heavyweight in American government, employing about two million fellow citizens in the task of governing. There are fifteen states with a smaller population than the executive branch’s employ. And out of that, a ticket of merely two officials is actually elected.

Furthermore, your precious franchise as a citizen entitles you to a one-in-125 million say in the winning ticket. And that’s overstating things, once you factor in the Electoral College, the inertia and institutionalization of party politics, big media, and large donor interests. Forget classical republicanism, this is barely even a mass democracy. It’s a two-party state with vestigial voters.

If that were the end of it, smashing America into a dozen new countries would make sense. But our judiciary still preserves (and has expanded) most of the great aspects of constitutional law that Madison and others shaped. And life is still good in America compared to other nations. More than 300 million people mostly live in law and order. That is a radical achievement when you look at human civilization. It’s not at all a precondition for rebellion and re-drawing our borders.