For comparison:

[krispos42]

5. Republicans used to be fairly sane

During the Eisenhower Era. Well there are always a few nuts in any party (Joe McCarthy, John Birch) but during the inter-war years and the Cold War there was some acknowledgement that if America was going to prevent a Communist revolution, America had to throw a bone to the poor once in a while.

Now they're camping out in Daley Plaza waiting for a 104-year old-man who's been dead for 58 years to come out of hiding and announce that his son, a man who's been dead for 22 years, is going to be Trump's vice-presidential pick in 2024.

These people are at minimum disturbed.

I think it was in the 80's when they bonded at the hip with the religious zealots. People who think they are doing the will of God can't be bargained with, because God is absolute, omnipotent, omniscient, etc. The parties used to have people that would overlap, so if there was a certain bill on a certain topic that came to a vote, most of Party A and some of Party B would vote for it. Later, a bill on another, different topic would come up for it and most of Party B would vote for it and some of Party A would vote for it, but the people that voted against the first bill would not be the same as the people that voted for the second bill.

Now, there is virtually no overlap and the parties are expected to vote in lockstep with their majority leader, and the Hastert Rule prevents the minority from accomplishing almost anything even if the majority of the house wants something.