I thought it was going to be some stupid article about how Republicans are assholes, but there’s actually some pretty good insight near the end about why Republicans always win the trophy for Most Obstructionist.
Democrats view elections as a means to an end, while Republicans view an election as an end in itself. This arises from their differing views about government. Democrats want to use government as a force for good in society, while Republicans want to diminish government’s capacity to do harm. “In this present crisis,” Ronald Reagan said in his 1981 inaugural address, “government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.” These differing views of government’s value cause Democrats to favor compromise (since they tend to view minimal action as preferable to no action at all) and Republicans to favor deadlock (second-best to active dismantlement of government).
This doesn’t quite take into account the Republican opposition to things like gay rights and drug policy reform, but especially on non-war budgetary and regulatory issues it seems to be true of the GOP.
