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Until the mid- sixties, most of the Republicans and Democrats were moderates. Because they were moderates, they saw the necessity of give-and-take in order to keep government moving smoothly along.

But in 1964, right-wing radical Barry Goldwater got hold of the Republican nomination for the Presidential election. He didn't get elected, but it was the start of the Republicans' move to the extreme right and to their policy of fighting the Democrats almost every step of the way, including the policies and proposals of any President who happened to be a Democrat. In reaction, many Democrats also started to favor confrontation over cooperation and the result is what you see today: Parties that are only out to block the other Party's proposals, almost regardless of their merits, Government shutdowns because (in this case) the Republicans refuse to compromise on budget, and Presidents who try to govern by themselves through 'executive orders' instead of by getting legislation in place together with Congress.

Almost every candidate for Congress today tries to score with the electorate by describing Washington as 'a mess', 'a swamp' or 'totally out of touch'. Most of them don't go into the fact that they have themselves been part of that self-proclaimed mess and try to pose as outsiders. This time, the President has joined them by saying that he will 'drain the swamp'.

No political candidate however has ever come forward with any specific suggestion on the underlying problem of how to de-radicalize the main Parties in Congress or on how to in any other way 'clean up the mess'. They just feed the distrust they have created themselves.

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8y ago

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