The framers of the Constitution did not want a government that was efficient at anything. A government with an absolute monarch is very efficient, just not pleasant to live under.
Leftist/statists cannot understand that the intent of the founders was not an all powerful government that grants a paltry number of rights to the people, but rather a government that is limited to a few areas of responsibility with strict accountability by the governed. Is the Constitution perfect, of course not, no system of government devised by man is perfect. The Constitution can and has been changed when two thirds of congress and three quarters of the states agree. History has shown our constitutional government has given us freedom unrivaled in human history, and a standard of living envied by the world.
If one Constitutional Amendment is essential for the survival of the Republic, as well as to prevent the continuation of functional ignorant, uneducated barely literate legislators in our bicameral Congress, is to require knowledge of the Constitution, but also of preventing any freshmen from introducing legislation until competence is demonstrated.
I was at first tempted to list all the incompetent of the last 40 years from damaging the Republic, but I quickly realized it would be an endless list and I can't afford to waste the entire month of September.
Instead, I would insist on at least passing familiarity with the following...
A Matter of Interpretation, Antonin Scalia, Princeton University Press, 1997
Reference 1
Witnesses at the Creation, Richard B Morris, Barnes & Noble, 1985.
Reference 2
Original Meanings, Jack N. Rakove, Alfred A. knopf, New York, 1997
Reference 3
When in the Course of Human Events, Charles Adams, Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.
Reference 4
The Complete Federalist Papers, Hamilton, Jay, Madison, Project Gutenberg, various formats
Reference 5
I apologize for linking to books which may not be available in the same editions today as the ones I used as reference directly from my personal library. But all are available as used.