Problem #1: There are too many roadblocks in our legislative system. Subcommittee -> Committee -> Floor -> Other House of Congress -> Conference Committee -> Back to the House & Senate Floor -> President.

At every stage in this process it is possible for a bill to die, and this is is on purpose. The Founders thought that these roadblocks would mean that only really good laws would make it out of there. Kinda of a cull the 80% good bills so that the 100% bills survive. Instead we get a bill that's watered down, loaded with payouts to interest groups and congressional factions, and otherwise wrecked so that you turn an 80% good bill into a 50% good bill. I would argue that the way modern politics is set up, where those who have an impact on a bill are basically ambitious lawyers (Congress), biased experts (lobbyists), and ideological evangelicals that 50% bill is the best our system can produce.

In fact, I think this is an issue with the way we talk about bills and policy. You think the tax code is shitty and you have a better solution? Purposefully make your solution half as good, and compare THAT to the status quo, because that's the best you can do. Think the ACA is terrible? Take your solution, and water it down to mud, because that's the only possible replacement given the way Congress works.

Problem #2: Inequitable elections. This problem has several components; the big, left-wing city problem, and the gerrymandering problem, the small state problem, the Senate problem.

Basically, in big, growing cities you have high concentrations of leftist voters and state legislatures have turned gerrymandering into a brutally efficient exercise, and both results are going to lead to a significant advantage for the Republican Party in legislative elections going forward, even as the demographics overall look ever more favorable for the Democratic Party.

This will result in a nation where party allegiances may break down something like 55% democrat - 45% republican, resulting in dominant majorities for Republicans in most state legislatures and in Congress, with Democrats dominating big cities and the state governments where said big cities are located. I can easily forsee a future in which inter-party competition becomes almost non-existent, driving up corruption and extremism across the board, while creating a permanently divided government at the Federal level where Democrats rack up big electoral college wins on the back of 20 states while the House continues to send back Republicans hostile to any policy proposal of said Democrat.

How does a nation survive when its political system and political culture make sure that either problems go unaddressed, or are addressed poorly. How does America maintain its position as the dominant world power when it spends too much on healthcare for mediocre results, spends 43% of the world's military spending, much of which appears to be lost in cost-overruns on weapons development projects (like the F-35 or DDX projects) rather than in expanded capabilities? Or when its two major parties maintain parity in the vote almost largely because whites and non-whites are polarizing in opposite directions? How does a country survive when it consists of two groups who have vastly different conceptions of what "America" is, feel active hostility towards each other, and who can identify each other with 80-90% accuracy by their skin color?