Grading Our Federal Government

Guest Opinion

By Stewart MacLeod | Oct. 17, 2026

Those of us who have ever held a job are familiar with periodic performance reviews. Even the self-employed such as farmers evaluate how they are doing. Similarly then, it’s appropriate to periodically evaluate our government.

To score our federal government, we first need to understand what these officials signed up to with their solemn oath of office. This gives a benchmark to rate them by. This should influence your scoring.

All elected, appointed, and hired federal workers take the same oath—even congressional staffers and law clerks. Federal judges and justices have to take an additional oath as well.

I took the federal oath, so it means a lot to me, as it should you. So let’s look at this and then rate the three federal branches. I’ll leave the grading to you. But it has to be totally objective—one needs to leave his or her political feelings at the door. Only legalities and the nation’s wellbeing should affect the scoring. So here goes.

All swear to “…support and defend the CONSTITUTION….” (emphasis mine). It is to the Constitution and not an individual or political ideology. And if you’re in the judiciary you also swear to “…administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and the rich….” That means impartial, in support of the Constitution—the way it was meant to be—no bending or interpreting so that a certain ruling can be made. Also a decision should not be based on the rank, wealth, or position of a litigant.

Now let’s see how they are doing. All three branches of government need to be evaluated, as they all are intended to jointly influence how things run in this country. So let’s get those score sheets out.

The Constitution gives the right to levy and spend funds, as needed, to the legislative branch. But currently, much of this is being done more by the executive branch in the person of the president. In addition, all acts of war and all treaties are to be approved by the legislative branch. It seems that what the executive branch does should be approved or checked by the legislative branch. Is this happening now? Are the intended checks and balances in place? The answer to this is fairly obvious, so this should affect your score.

As for the judicial branch, though lower courts are trying to put the brakes on the overreach of power, the Supreme Court seems to be giving cover to what the other branches, especially the executive branch, are doing or not doing. The Constitution states they should be acting based on law and fact, but how do you think they are doing?

The executive branch is much greater than the Office of the President. It includes all of the departments and organizations operating under the president’s direct authority and that of his cabinet officials—what we tend to think of as “the government” writ large.

At the moment, none of the three branches—intended to be coequal—appear to be doing so well related to the oaths they took. But we need to dig deeper for a fair evaluation.

In the executive branch, lower down the ladder than appointed bosses, some career officials are trying to do the right things, though many are just resigning or retiring or being fired because of what they are being asked to but won’t do based on their oaths taken.

In our legislative branch, some from both sides of the aisle are standing firm to do what is needed—not following in lock step to some partisan or political agenda. But the Constitution stipulates that the Senate and House get to set their own rules. And with the majority party calling the shots, much necessary legislation is not getting to the floor for a vote, let alone being enacted.

Some of the lower courts, as noted, are trying to rein in the misuse of power, unlawfulness, and unconstitutionality perpetrated by the executive and legislative branches. At the same time, our Supreme Court isn’t always doing as it could/should. What should be unanimous votes upholding the Constitution often aren’t.

So look at your score sheets and see how our federal government did. Few of us are political experts or legal scholars, but simply following impartial news reports and carefully reading our founding documents should result in objective scores. Based on these, you should be able to make informed choices this November.

Your vote is critically important. Let your opinion be heard!

Stewart MacLeod earned a BA in History at Albion College and an MA in Ottoman History at the University of Michigan. He then spent 30+ years as a Turkey area analyst for the U.S. government before retiring to Traverse City.