Well, ake, over the last 8 years just about every piece of progressive legislation that was introduced in Conmgress was shot down by the Repub majority... It's not like there aren't folks who are trying to make some needed changes it's just there are more folks "standing in the doorway and blocking the halls"...
Take Dennis Kucinich's Department of Peace, for instance... He inmtroduces his bill every year and it gets shot down... Yeah, okay, many Dems don't get on board but if the Repubs weren't in such numbers that they could shoot it down the Dems might take it more seriously...
(And this from an active Green Party supporter going back a long, long time...)