Fundamental flaws
in the U.S. Constitution
The inherent weaknesses in the American concept of government and society
By Andrew Burlone
Updated • Septembre 2, 2025
Despite the reputation of the American political system as a model of democracy worldwide, it is challenging today to envision how this system can effectively overcome and resolve its profound and structural issues. History and current upheavals provide proof of this: the structural flaws of American governance continue to resurface with striking clarity.
In Stolen Continents: Conquest and Resistance in the Americas, Canadian author Ronald Wright recalls Indigenous critiques of the white settler order: its militarism, its obsession with property, its dependence on force, its punitive system of justice, and the vast inequality it produced. Compared to the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy, these flaws stood in plain sight.
The United States’ dependence on force, inequality, militarism, property obsession, punitive justice, and deep social inequality were laid bare in Indigenous critiques.
In a dialogue with Benjamin Franklin, “A Haudenosaunee Chief was amazed that whites… should need so many written laws, parliament, courts, police, and punishments. If the white way was so much better, why was it necessary to force people to be good by threat of violence? Why were so many people poor or in jail, while those with property grew ever richer and more powerful?”
Franklin himself admired the more egalitarian, consensus-driven methods of government he encountered among the Iroquois, noting that the confederacy governed with far fewer laws or punishments and insisted upon collective decision-making. Wright’s central message is that the flaws of the United States – its dependence on force, inequality, militarism, property obsession, punitive justice, and deep social inequality – were laid bare in Indigenous critiques.
These core shortcomings are not merely remnants of a distant past but persist as living realities, exposing what America chose to overlook. By contrast, the Iroquois Confederacy—whose consensual modes of governance once inspired the framers of the U.S. Constitution—embodied participatory decision-making and a commitment to justice and shared welfare.
Today, these persistent flaws in the U.S. Constitution remain deeply relevant to American political life. Contemporary debates over federal authority, executive power, and systemic injustice reveal an ongoing constitutional tension—what many regard as an enduring crisis in the nation’s governance.
‘One might be forgiven for assuming that the American system, so long hailed as a model of democracy, had finally resolved the contradictions at its core.’
Clashes are by no means confined to the cloisters of academia. Instead, they spill openly onto the broad stage of public life, as federal and state authorities lock horns over executive prerogatives, civil rights, and the shifting frontiers of constitutional law. What unfolds before our eyes is not merely a series of policy disagreements but a relentless tug-of-war over the very soul of the American republic.
In today’s turbulent moment, one may wonder whether the United States’ foundational architecture—so often praised as a model—might yet benefit from the humility to learn anew. The question is pressing: can a system burdened by unexamined failings adapt and remain a credible example of self-government, even as Americans confront ever-widening divisions and their lasting consequences?
Indigenous models of consensus, mutual responsibility, and restraint from punishment stand as living alternatives to the competitive, individualistic ethos that characterizes U.S. political life today. These approaches can inspire new demands for justice reform, economic fairness, and a reimagining of what liberty and community could mean within the American context.
Out in the streets and across the digital commons, formidable social movements gather momentum, catalyzing legal showdowns that probe the outermost limits of state authority. The air is thick with a disenchantment that cuts across party and class lines, a collective recognition that political polarization now erodes the possibility of consensus.
These deep tremors, felt well beyond the halls of justice, call into question whether America can finally realize that elusive promise of an inclusive, participatory democracy, or whether, as history so often reminds us, the experiment remains stubbornly incomplete.
Stolen Continents: Conquest and Resistance in the Americas, by Ronald Wright, was published in 1992.
Feature image: U.S. National Archives via StockPholio.net
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Andrew Burlone, co-founder of WestmountMag.ca, began his media journey at NOUS magazine. Subsequently, he launched Visionnaires, holding the position of creative director for over 30 years. Andrew is passionate about culture and politics, with a keen interest in visual arts and architecture.
