Every country has a lunatic minority, however in America they either get to run the place or keep it from solving its problems and moving forward. They are useful idiots for people with nefarious motives, like not wanting to pay taxes on great wealth. The imperfect democracy allows them to leverage cracks in the ancient system of government, a democratic remnant of the 18th century that needs some updating. The updating used to be done through the courts, because constitutional change was frozen since the civil war around some issues. However, the politization of the courts has made the progress of liberal democracy and social change slow in America. It is why the constitution cannot be viewed as a dead document with the ideas of 18th century men paramount, it is a pragmatic matter in a political landscape frozen in time. Abortion is a good example and women did not have rights or the franchise in the founder's time, yet Alito went back even further than the founders in search of a precident that would deny women basic human rights, much less, constitutional ones.
The same situation and mindset happen around the issue of guns, the second amendment and it's plainly written language. The arguments used to support recent progun rulings and constitutional interpretations have been ludicrous. The SCOTUS of the 1970's would have laughed them out of the fucking room!