I think that the US's problems escalated in the 80s for several factors, LH, that aren't necessarially the two party system... First of all, Japan began kicking our butts... The steel industry was stolen by the Japanese... Our car manufacturers felt the Japanese competition squueze... Electronics??? The same... What came out of this was a reaction of American industry and the American worker to fight back...

Also, we had deregulation which shifted income to the upper 5%, who rather than reinvest it, used it to build grossly opulant house and rubbed their new found wealth in the other 95%'s faces...

We also had the rise of professional sports and branding and, well...

...bottom line, the US became very competitive and we got away from win-win toward win-lose and we are stuck in a win-lose cycle...

Oh sure, we talk about cooperation but we don't walk cooperation...

Now personally, I think that progressives are more willing to compromise than the conservative counterparts who are wedded to tax cuts and as little government as possible... The problem here is that thiese policies have not made our country stronger but less equitable and therefor weaker...

That, of course, is MO...

BB will have another opinion, fir sure...

B~