As the traditions that once held together the world’s most reputable deliberative body waste away under the current Majority Leader, calls for increasingly radical action have started to take shape

I vote for restoring the traditions. One simple change is all that is required: restore the filibuster rule as it applied when Mr. Smith went to Washington.

The problem is not the GOP. Harry Reid had the opportunity to put the filibuster back in its bottle, but he didn’t take it. Turns out that every Senator gets more power when either party can block legislation. But, instead of resulting in compromises, the minority’s veto power has been used to embarrass the party in the White House. That’s just assholes being assholes. But they only do it because it works. And that’s on us.

Of course, despite Congress having a low approval rating, these bozos continue to get elected. How can we blame anyone but ourselves for that? Maybe if the people actually voted against incumbents just because they get nothing done, something would get done. But that’s not how our system is working. Primary voters pick the candidate who will compromise least, then complain that Congress can’t get anything done. We have spent the past 100 years or so denigrating civics as something our kids need to grasp. The result is a society that may finally be too stupid to govern itself. We may have become, wait for it, a shithole country.

Make America Great Again: Give to iCivics.