Yostivanich

The weak­ened insti­tu­tion could no longer with­stand pres­sures from out­side its walls; as money and cam­eras rushed in, inde­pen­dent minds fell more and more in line with the par­ti­sans. Rough par­ity between the two par­ties meant that every elec­tion had the poten­tial to make or break a major­ity, crush­ing the incen­tive to coöper­ate across the aisle. The Sen­ate, no longer a fount of ideas, became a back­wa­ter of the U.S. gov­ern­ment. Dur­ing the Clin­ton years, the main action was between the White House and the Gin­grich House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives; dur­ing the Bush years, the Repub­li­can Sen­ate major­ity abdi­cated the over­sight role that could have placed a vital check on exec­u­tive power.

via The New Yorker – Fil­i­busters and arcane obstruc­tions in the Sen­ate. Lot of inter­est­ing analy­sis behind why the Sen­ate out of all the bits and pieces of gov­ern­ment is weirder and more prone to hin­der­ing gov­ern­ment rather than actu­ally governing.