re: Do you ever stop and appreciate how well our government was designed?

The founders had one shot to get it right as all of the needed elements came together in the right time and place. They probably didn’t envision the existence of 50 states, but did allow for growth.

As you say, we’ve crept away from the original intent of limited government, but I often wonder if the nation lasted as long as they had hoped it would back then. There were probably differing opinions on that, but would interested in the overall consensus about how long they expected it to last.