Conclusion

Abstract

The bicentenary of the Republic’s founding coupled with the deep Federal fiscal crisis induced close examination of the capacity of the government established by the Constitution to address social and economic policy disorders. Notwithstanding the deficit’s virtual disappearrance, there remain serious and widely-shared apprehensions about the suitability of the Constitutional design, and the extent to which policy problems have social, historical, and political roots. Five particular criticisms are illustrative, though not exhaustive, of this central problem.