We only care about elections, and not governing.

[SoCalDem]

The instant the election is called for the "winner", the focus shifts into "what went wrong" for the "other guy", and who will run in 4 years.

Every president has his (or her, someday) detractors, and the press loves to bash whomever ends up in that comfy chair in the Oval Office, but the vanquished, in recent history, has refused to accept that fact. they plot and scheme, and undermine, and whimper and whine.. they look for every bit of unused "dirt" they can find, to poison the administration of the newly-elected president.

They delight in public humiliation and have fine-tuned the art of ridicule.

The "honeymoon" period is non-existent.

we don't have a legislature.. we have 535 individuals, all vying for the same pot-of-gold, aka campaign loot and cushy "jobs" for their family members.

They are too afraid to actually legislate, because they fear any votes they may have cast, being used "against" them in the next election. Winning an election no longer matters, because once won, the next one is immediately "in-progress"....no majority is ever strong enough to counter the boisterous minority completely, and plans are always afoot to strengthen the next election's results with a BIGGER majority.

The party that lost (especially if it's the republican party) merely has to refuse to BE losers. Anyone who has ever watched football knows that most of the points are scored by the agile running backs, and NOT by the 300 lb front line behemoths. To "win", it's easier to be on the offensive side of things (in all senses of the word...lord knows that republicans are among the most offensive beings on the planet).

There used to be a denouement that happened after an election.. there was a time when the winners were allowed to actually govern. Sure, the politicos were constantly focused on the next hurrah, but for most of the public, they settled in and let history unfold.

We were patient enough to understand that four or eight years of policies-gone-awry could not be instantly "cured".

Somewhere along the line we got addicted to campaigns & elections, and stopped allowing governance to occur.

Imagine if this happened in real life:

a job opening is posted.. 5 people apply..one is chosen, and every day at work the 4 losers run to HR complaining about the "new guy", they send off scathing "appraisals" of his job-performance to headquarters, and try to convince other co-workers that he's doing a shitty job and needs to be fired, they email rude cartoons of him to everyone, they egg his car in the parking lot, they crank-call his wife, they sabotage his work...some bring guns to work, just because it's their right..

would this be acceptable behavior at a workplace?

Sometimes I wonder why anyone would even want to be president.

[JVS]

1. And it shows when we have 60 fucking senators and can't get shit done

[tridim]

5. Because the Republicans are shutting-down our Democracy.

Never forget who is actually throwing the wrench into the works.

[SoCalDem]

6. They are champs at obstruction..bastards..

they delight is stopping any meaningful legislation, and then use it as a campaign issue, by calling the other side "do-nothing" ..as if they ever planned on doing anything worthwhile..

[havocmom]

8. A goodly number of 60 senators seem hell bent on enabling them in that effort

Can't just blame it on the GOP.

[SoCalDem]

9. Both parties are guilty.. and no majority is ever enough

and never will be..but the GOP can do a lot more with a minority than most Democrats can do with a majority:grr:

[tridim]

10. True, but you can't ignore them either.

Not that you're ignoring them, but the media sure is.

At least 90% of the problem is squarely on the Republican obstructionists who hate our Democracy enough to kill it.

[havocmom]

11. Media, yes. Corporate owed corporate enablers

GOOD primary candidates who run against bad DEM pols get shafted in media. But one must still work to get better candidates out of the primary system.

Hate to remind, but lots of DEM pols are in the pockets of the same folks pulling GOP strings.

Good primary candidates: find them, work for them, elect them. Then, we really address campaign finance reform. That is the only way to get the thing working again.

:hi:

[havocmom]

7. When you have 60 senators who can't get it done, it shows too many don't want to get it done

Simple as that. They do not want to govern, as OP points out. They are too busy posturing for $ and jobs for family and themselves post 'public service'.

There are not enough elected pols on the Hill who are engaged in "public service". There are not enough who care about the nation or the people.

[Solly Mack]

2. k/r

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. It's the downside of having an oligarchy rather than a democracy.

When elections are decided by who raises the most money, it makes the need for money imperative. Which attracts the people most willing to be corrupted. Which in turn makes them the most "electable".

It is further reinforced that the only way to end the corruption (i.e. take the money out of politics/governance) is in the hands of those already corrupted and in thrall to the system of corruption.

[SoCalDem]

4. Catch 22 on steroids.

That's why real election reform will never happen.. the ones who care most about it have lost, and have no more power, and the ones who are "in", think things are hunkydory:(

[emilyg]

12. k/r