What I'm suggesting is that, insofar as the U.S. (or Swiss, or whatever) system has survived, it is due not only to its structure, but to the activity of its pe

What I'm suggesting is that, insofar as the U.S. (or Swiss, or whatever) system has survived, it is due not only to its structure, but to the activity of its people in opposing governmental "mission creep" — what the U.S. founders called "usurpation". The structure has to be right, it has to be susceptible to popular control, but the people also have to be on guard, or the structure will be destroyed while they're not looking. I'm not as confident as you are that the American system is intact. I think some important elements have been discarded, in large part because the people did not understand their value. For example, the reorganization from the state militias to the largely federalized National Guard, along with the imposition of a large standing army, removed the general population of the states from the defense and federal law enforcement roles, allowing both to get out of the people's control. There are numerous other examples.