Are you an American or a New Jerseyan?

That might seem like a silly question, but it is not for millions of Americans in scores of other states. The reason is simple: State governments are, by and large, functioning, for better or worse, and the federal government is not. Not at all. One branch, the legislative, has completely abandoned its responsibilities; another, the judicial, has been left to function short-handed, reducing many upcoming decisions to an impotent tie; and the third branch, the executive, now in a lame duck year,…