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sam0345 comments on Kill the mind-killer - Less Wrong Discussion
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The founders, for obvious and excellent reasons, tried to structure the system so that violently controversial stuff could not get done, so that to govern effectively you needed a widespread consensus.
There is no consensus on spending unprecedented gobs of money, and it is not obvious that there should be such a consensus. Hence, gridlock. It is not a bug, it is a feature.
If the only effect of gridlock were to limit spending, that could be a feature. But the effect of gridlock in this case would be to stop government spending suddenly, and put a few million people out of a job suddenly, as well as immediately downgrading American bonds and the dollar, and other consequences as well. Calling this a feature is like building a train that jumps off the tracks if it goes over 100MPH and calling it a safety feature.