We (and I mostly mean the US, where I’m located) seem to design our culture and our government in an incredibly convoluted, haphazard and error-prone way. No thought is given to the long-run consequences or the stability of our political decisions.
It’s interesting to me that it looks that way to you, given that the architects of the American system (James Madison, John Jay etc...) where explicitly attempting to achieve a kind of “defense in depth” (e.g. separation of powers between the branches, federalism with independent states, decentralized militia system, etc...). Perhaps they failed in their attempt, or perhaps “backup plans for backup plans” just appear convoluted and wasteful when viewed by those living inside such systems.
It’s interesting to me that it looks that way to you, given that the architects of the American system (James Madison, John Jay etc...) where explicitly attempting to achieve a kind of “defense in depth” (e.g. separation of powers between the branches, federalism with independent states, decentralized militia system, etc...). Perhaps they failed in their attempt, or perhaps “backup plans for backup plans” just appear convoluted and wasteful when viewed by those living inside such systems.