Walk into a coffee shop, scroll through your news feed or sit down at a dinner table, and odds are, the conversation will turn to politics. It’s understandable. We live in an age of intense polarization, and major issues — education, immigration, energy and more — dominate headlines and fire up passions.
But beneath the noise and partisanship, there’s a quieter, more important conversation we’re not having. It’s not about who’s in office, the latest controversy or what policies are trending. It’s about how our system of government functions — and whether it serves the people as intended.
The truth is, our biggest problem isn’t political — it’s structural.
Over the past century, power has concentrated steadily in the executive branch. Presidents now govern through executive orders, expansive regulatory frameworks, emergency declarations and administrative actions that touch nearly every area of life. Meanwhile, Congress, the branch closest to the people, has grown more divided and less engaged in its constitutional responsibilities.
This wasn’t the vision of the Founders. Our Constitution was designed with balance in mind: three coordinated branches checking and balancing one another to prevent the rise of concentrated power. Congress was meant to be the primary engine of lawmaking. But when it defers due to gridlock, polarization or political calculation, the executive steps forward. That imbalance affects not just Washington but also every corner of American life.
This isn’t a critique of any one president or political party. The rise of executive power has occurred under leaders of all stripes. Generally, it’s a slow drift, not a sudden storm. And that’s what makes it so dangerous. If we want to restore public trust in government, we must stop framing everything as a political fight and focus on a commitment to structural reforms.
And while Congress has a constitutional duty to reassert its role, it’s not alone in that responsibility. The states, often overlooked in our national debates, play a critical role in preserving constitutional balance.
The Founders envisioned a federal system in which states were not passive participants but active partners in governance. States are uniquely positioned to act when the federal government overreaches or fails to act at all. Through legislation, legal challenges and policy innovation, states can serve as both a check on federal authority and a laboratory of ideas more closely connected to the people.
A strong example of this is Utah’s passage of HB488 in 2025. This legislation provides a framework for re-balancing the state-federal partnership that is central to American government for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is enhancing the diversity of states and magnifying the voice of the people. It doesn’t promote defiance; it promotes dialogue. It reaffirms the role of states as co-equal participants in our federal system, not subordinates. This governing partnership is called “federalism” and by putting these principles at the forefront, Utah is helping to restore the balance of power that the Constitution demands.
Other states should take notice. HB488 is a reminder that structural reform can and should begin at the state level. In our system of government, an essential check on centralized power is not only Congress, but the states themselves.
If we want to restore confidence in our system of government, we need to start asking different questions.
Instead of “Who’s winning?” we should be asking, “Is our system working the way it was designed?” Rather than ask, “How do we get more of what we want?” perhaps we would be better served by asking, “How do we ensure the two spheres of government stay within their rightful bounds? How do we use the structures inherited from our Founders to modify and defang political disputes?”
These aren’t partisan questions; they’re constitutional ones. They’re questions of design, structure, limits and balance — and they’re overdue.
The conversations that fill headlines may change with each election cycle, but the structural issues beneath them will persist if left unaddressed. It’s time we place these issues back to the center of public discourse, for it was the answer to these questions originally that made America, America.