Within roughly 24 hours, a series of seemingly unrelated American stories collided: a planned $15 billion steel project, disturbing education numbers, new election-security measures, a federal court fight over election authority, questions surrounding massive government-fraud claims, and another warning that inflation remains too high.

Today we’re stripping away the political jerseys and asking a much simpler question:

Does the system actually work?

The inspiration comes from James Howard Kunstler’s provocative “First, Quit Pretending…” essay—but we’re testing that argument against fresh reporting and the actual numbers.