Aug 26, 2026 · 32 min · 8 segments
It's the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this year, but the mood isn’t purely about celebration. If you've wondered why the US and US politics feel so unstable despite the country…
Adam SmithGuest
Will HuttonHost
Uh, I admire the seven MAG companies, but at the same time, um, I find the, I find the polarization of American life and the, the disinformation, uh-- And I'm, I'm, I, I guess I'm as upset as many mainstream Americans at, you know, uh, w-where this fantastic country is going.
[laughing] Well, I don't necessarily disagree with your bleakness, and I agree with what you've just, what you've just said there.
I would, I would say that the, the thing that strikes me most, that I worry most about when I look at the United States as you do from, um, across the Atlantic, but being very engaged with it and in my case, studying it and visiting it regularly, the thing that worries me most is the political constitutional stagnation, which stands in such stark contrast to the dynamism of its capitalist society as you've just, um, as you've just articulated it.
Um, this is a country that by some measures is the oldest continually operating constitution, has the oldest continually operating constitution in the world.
But unlike-- And that is striking enough, but unlike at various other points in American history when there were periods of constitutional creativity and the institutions seemed malleable and there seemed to be the capacity for reform and renewal, it's extremely hard to see right now in the United States how you could ever get meaningful political reform.
And so there's a constant drift between the political institutions which are ossified and the ever-evolving needs of the society, including widening inequality and the climate challenge, and all of these kinds of questions that seem to demand a kind of action that the American Constitution seems, um, incapable of responding to.
Yes, I was struck by that as I kind of briefed myself on your work, that, I mean, the growth of, um, originalism, uh, which was a kind of minority sport of a few lawyers kind of forty, fifty years ago, and is now, I mean, mainstream with the Supreme Court kind of, kind of making judgments based on kinda how one should understand literally the original meaning of the Founding Fathers and the profundity of the conservatism that produces.
You know, the Supreme Court will strike down, uh, states who try to qualify, uh, the freedom to kind of carry arms.
Uh, any measure of gun control is always tricky because it offends a, a constitution written in the late eighteenth century.
As you've laid it down, you know, dynamism of society, sclerotic constitution, the two in tension.
But could you just kinda make that live for us as, uh, you know, what that means in day-to-day life? What that, what that actually means to the United States of America?
So y- there are all kinds of ways in which the, the American political system nevertheless provides kind of pockets of, um, excitement and regeneration, and you see what's happened in, uh, New York City since the election of, uh, Mamdani, uh, at the end of, at the end of last year.
The radical decentralization of the Constitution, I think, which is something we might want to talk a little bit more about, still provides kind of points of, of, of resistance and tension.
But at the end of the day, as you've just been saying about the Supreme Court, and given the, the, um, the m- m- massive malapportionment of the, of the United States Senate and the frustrations over the Electoral College, which has now twice in the 21st century, uh, elected a president who, who lost the popular vote, uh, these kinds of things seem s- s- are, are so kind of weighty and create a, a, a sort of displaced c- uh, energy in, in American society that unlike in other countries, and it's hardly like we sitting here in the United Kingdom have a highly effectively functioning political and constitutional system, um, but that, but, but then in other countries, there seems to be at least the possibility of kind of dreaming about pushing for significant political reform, which could meaningfully redistribute power, and that seems very difficult to imagine in the United States as it's currently constructed.
Uh, I admire the seven MAG companies, but at the same time, um, I find the, I find the polarization of American life and the, the disinformation, uh-- And I'm, I'm, I, I guess I'm as upset as many mainstream Americans at, you know, uh, w-where this fantastic country is going.
[laughing] Well, I don't necessarily disagree with your bleakness, and I agree with what you've just, what you've just said there.
I would, I would say that the, the thing that strikes me most, that I worry most about when I look at the United States as you do from, um, across the Atlantic, but being very engaged with it and in my case, studying it and visiting it regularly, the thing that worries me most is the political constitutional stagnation, which stands in such stark contrast to the dynamism of its capitalist society as you've just, um, as you've just articulated it.
Um, this is a country that by some measures is the oldest continually operating constitution, has the oldest continually operating constitution in the world.
But unlike-- And that is striking enough, but unlike at various other points in American history when there were periods of constitutional creativity and the institutions seemed malleable and there seemed to be the capacity for reform and renewal, it's extremely hard to see right now in the United States how you could ever get meaningful political reform.
And so there's a constant drift between the political institutions which are ossified and the ever-evolving needs of the society, including widening inequality and the climate challenge, and all of these kinds of questions that seem to demand a kind of action that the American Constitution seems, um, incapable of responding to.
Yes, I was struck by that as I kind of briefed myself on your work, that, I mean, the growth of, um, originalism, uh, which was a kind of minority sport of a few lawyers kind of forty, fifty years ago, and is now, I mean, mainstream with the Supreme Court kind of, kind of making judgments based on kinda how one should understand literally the original meaning of the Founding Fathers and the profundity of the conservatism that produces.
You know, the Supreme Court will strike down, uh, states who try to qualify, uh, the freedom to kind of carry arms.
Uh, any measure of gun control is always tricky because it offends a, a constitution written in the late eighteenth century.
As you've laid it down, you know, dynamism of society, sclerotic constitution, the two in tension.
But could you just kinda make that live for us as, uh, you know, what that means in day-to-day life? What that, what that actually means to the United States of America?
So y- there are all kinds of ways in which the, the American political system nevertheless provides kind of pockets of, um, excitement and regeneration, and you see what's happened in, uh, New York City since the election of, uh, Mamdani, uh, at the end of, at the end of last year.
The radical decentralization of the Constitution, I think, which is something we might want to talk a little bit more about, still provides kind of points of, of, of resistance and tension.
But at the end of the day, as you've just been saying about the Supreme Court, and given the, the, um, the m- m- massive malapportionment of the, of the United States Senate and the frustrations over the Electoral College, which has now twice in the 21st century, uh, elected a president who, who lost the popular vote, uh, these kinds of things seem s- s- are, are so kind of weighty and create a, a, a sort of displaced c- uh, energy in, in American society that unlike in other countries, and it's hardly like we sitting here in the United Kingdom have a highly effectively functioning political and constitutional system, um, but that, but, but then in other countries, there seems to be at least the possibility of kind of dreaming about pushing for significant political reform, which could meaningfully redistribute power, and that seems very difficult to imagine in the United States as it's currently constructed.
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