A note on "Partisan Gridlock"

I keep hearing people say that we suffer from a situation of partisan gridlock in federal American politics these days. That is untrue. What we suffer from is a situation of Republican gridlock. The Republican Party has decided that it is going to use every available tool at their disposal to advance their agenda and hinder that of their opponents. That means doing things that go way beyond the scope of what the rules shaping our government were ever designed to encompass. It means doing things that are extravagantly in bad faith. It means threatening, as they've done over the last month, to pursue policies they themselves believe would be disastrous. The aggregate result of that is gridlock, and refusal on the part of our government to find solutions to our pressing problems. But it's not about partisanship. It's about Republicans being horrid. It's a one-sided affair.