Perhaps if you expanded your news sources, you'd see it somewhat differently. It is a plain FACT that in the last 12 years, very few Dems have broken ranks on any issue, and those few that did were soundly punished by the party leadership, including being stripped of committee assignments and campaign financing, or even outright replacement - Joe Lieberman comes to mind. On the other hand, when the Pubs held the Presidency and both houses, they could not get things passed becaused many Pubs broke ranks, often; without much repercussion at all - other than being criticized for it by some factions of the party.

As to so-called gridlock, it can be your friend!

Especially when sneaky deceptive ideas. or even just bad ideas, are being pushed by those who's dismissive ad hominem attacks, stifle any real or honest debate; which has been the norm for the Dems since the late sixties. It is obvious to any thinking person, that anyone using such tactics do so because they must - as their proposals rarely could stand the light of day anyway. That is not to say that the Pubs are currently any better - they are not; just that they currently have better potential; for the reasons that I outlined in the previous post.