People talk about how Washington is more divided to day then it ever has been, and that's just not the case. Here is what I think is the issue.
We hear Republican and Democrat all the time, but you don't elect Democrat to congress, you elect a person, who has the ear of the people that person represents back in there state. These people have ideologies, and if you asked each one what the perfect US would look like, you would probably get a unique answer from each of them.
If you were to draw a line, and the far left of that line was where you placed a person on it that was liberal abbot every issue, and the far right on that line was someone who was conservative about every issue, you would have all of congress scattered across that line. There are probably some Republicans that are more left on that line then some Democrats. The individuals, and there ideals (and the voice of the people who elect them), are all over the place. Not just on the ends.
Here is the problem as I see it. If you were to take the most left dot on that timeline, you would have Nancy Pelosi. She is the most powerful person in Congress, and every bill that passes, is written to meet her standards. When every bill is written to be on the far left or far right of that line, you have a lot less people who can support it.
This is why Congress is having a hard time getting the 60 votes. The bills are so left, then can't even get central Democrats on there side. If the Speaker of the House was a democrat who was more in the middle of that line, the bills would be written in a way where you might lose some far left Democrats, but you still get the bill passed because you pickup some middle leaning Republicans.
Replace Nancy Pelosi with someone closer to the middle, and Congress functions again.
