Just one heartbeat on the Supreme Court could save or ruin America. That is, the earliest the Republicans could get enough seats in the House and the Senate to override Obama could be in two elections.
This means that mitigating these horrors can almost only occur if the Supreme Court throws them out in their entirety.
The only other way would be a constitutional convention, because no single constitutional amendment, or even several could negate enough of the built up insanity to matter.
Personally, I detest the fact that the future of our nation relies on the heartbeat of a single SCOTUS justice. The States *should* intervene, and correct this insanity before it destroys our country.
Right now, they are forming blocs to challenge federal power, but they have not realized that *all* of those blocs have the same basic purpose—to restore federal power to its authorized framework, and to restore the rights of the States, and the people, at the same time.
This is their job. The States are supposed to keep the federal house in order, and they have not. In the next constitution, it might not be unreasonable that the States, even if they wish no changes, still have to meet every 50 years to debate possible changes.
No real chance of too much radicalism there, because 38 States would still have to vote for any changes made, and the only thing that many States can agree on is to challenge federal power.
The States abdicated their say when they ratified the 17th amendment. Once that happened - the fine balance the framers envisioned got thrown out of whack. What was supposed to be a body that represented the states interests turned into a Hose of Representative style popularity contest. Bad thing is - it lacks the localized responsibility to a constituency of a House of Representative member and isn't checked every two years like House members.
No, the Senate, following the 17th amendment, became something else. Responsible to nobody locally, nor to the state specifically. Arrogant prom kings and queens that lack any real kind of supervision or accountability.
The body of Congress that was supposed to effectively balance the power of a strong executive branch was flushed down the toilet long ago. We are only starting to recognize the impacts.
Personal opinon of course...