The dumbest thing the Democrats did was not let the Republicans get rid of the Filibuster. Mainly because it would have come back to bite them on the butt, considering they made quite a use of it for the party that wanted to do away with it.Considering that this is America, we do have the right to complain.
Bickering between the parties is what has left the country behind. Our President had a very hard time passing anything due to the fact he didn't have a majority vote in congress and the Republican leadership made it clear that their "top priority" was to make Obama a one-term president. Health care, the country its citizens took a backseat to a partisan grudge. Republican leadership refuses to deal with the President because they're upset that they lost the last election and that's a big problem. This has happened the other-way-around when we had a Republican president, but never on this scale. Even if you don't like Democratic policies, much of the blame for the country's stagnancy resides with the Republican leadership.
And to get this perfectly clear, I'm not stabbing at the voters, but the politicians, talking heads, and tin foil hat crazies that don't fit in with the main stream voters. The Republican party has become so incredibly, utterly disgusting since Clinton was in office, and they were trying to impeach him for lying about a sexual affair all the while having sexual affairs themselves! Then came the Freedom Fries and the "if you're not with us, you're against us" balderdash... that last one translates to "If you don't like what Bush and his ditto head cronies are doing, you're an evil terrorist sympathizer," by the way... now the petulant, childish, Eric Cartman-esque behavior from the far far right that was elected on opportunism. Like turtleman Mitch McConnel, cry baby Boener, and Eric "this guy was a freaking HEDGE FUND MANAGER! Those were the people who RUINED out ECONOMY" Cantor.
The sane, reasonable, middle of the road Republicans have LONG left the party, to be replaced by uncooperative Koch and Norquest backed puppets. NONE of us elected Norquest or the Koches, yet they run the country. Not to mention the "corporations are people too" trash they're spouting. No they aren't. They have rights people don't have. If we bought our own government, that would be called a bribe, and we'd get jail time for it.
The fact of the matter is the President can't get anything done, the Reps won't let him get anything
There are 2 things I have to say about that.Before anyone blames the two-party system, it is a historical fact that once a third party becomes competitive enough it replaces one of the two parties. For better or for worse we will always have a two-party system.
Firstly, I think all true conservatives should vote Libertarian. I'm not a fan, but that's what true conservatism is closest too. I get they hate wasteful spending, and everything to them is wasteful, but Libertarians are at least sincere about the radical things they want. The Republican party is the Neo-Con party now, and they don't give a crap about anything except getting as much stock money as humanly possible, all while using Republican voters to get people they want in office. Meanwhile, the liberals are going to be stuck with Democrats... that's the furthest left the country could possibly go.
Secondly, I agree. I think everyone puts too much faith in thinking there's going to be a magic third party that's going to solve everyone's problems. We don't even have an organized one (other than Libs). And the real problem with the indie parties? They're even more extreme (in most cases) than the 2 party system. To get elected, both parties kinda have to pander to the other side to some extent, but a far left Peacenik party (the only kind indies actually want) or a far right even scarier party aren't going to cut it, and they aren't going to be incorruptible.