Once you are elected to a Washington post, you are besieged and cloistered by your wealthiest constituents, fellow party politicians, key political leaders (House and Senate), lobbyists, your own staff, security, et al. You quickly lose touch with the day-to-day world and are 24/7 engrossed in the politics of Washington. The standard for these politics is set by the top (just as in any major corporation) and in today's world that is the President, Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House. These current three politicians are particularly party oriented and particularly at-the-ready to point fingers at the main alternate party. They set the tone for all of Washington.

Not all Presidencies, Senates and Congresses have been like this and hopefully future ones will be of a more unifying nature.

My personal observation is that the vehemence with which this administration has attacked the main alternate party, and the reluctance of the alternate party to support legislation that will increase the deficit is not lost on the American people. We The People clearly see that party-politics has gotten significantly out-of-balance compared to 10 and 100 years ago. I would say that many, many American people have discovered that even though their particular party affiliation at one time appeared to make them at opposite ends of the political spectrum with neighbors or colleagues, they have more openly discussed issues with these political "rivals" because they are so worried about the economy, national debt and run-away legislation (2,200 page bills that politicians don't read before voting to pass them). They have discovered that they actually believe in the same values and goals, they have just approached the solution from differing perspectives, and surprise, the approaches aren't even that different. They have reached a meeting of the minds and this will make for a pervasive sweep in the November elections.

It will take several elections, but eventually the mind of the people will impact Washington. Eventually government will come center, however this will require cutting government and government programs. This has to happen anyway. The electorate can no longer sustain such a bloated, run-away government.

To summarize, yes politicians are significantly more party oppositional now, but this in turn has trended toward a more centered electorate.

The partisan divide has gotten significantly worse during the last couple of decades. It appears to be caused by technical side effects of modern media developments. On tv, more news channels has resulted in partisan channels whereas with only three networks they had all stayed middle of the road. A different effect in radio has been the development of national networks. There are enough to be partisan, and in the past individual stations had limited listening areas. The print news media is still there, but like the radio it has consolidated into fewer, more widely read papers. The internet has made amateurish journalism widespread and widely read.

All this means there is much more extremely partisan news being absorbed by far more people. People can choose news sources that reinforce their own prejudices.

In theory, the internet allows people to see all the points of view and to sort through news sources for legitimate information. But few people appear to be doing this.

It is broader in support and has a bigger cushion in electoral office. Within Congress, the parties have become purer and purer distillations of themselves. The political parties are now more internally unified, than anytime over the last 50 years. Over the last generation, there has been a dramatic ideological and partisan sorting of voters as well. American democracy and America's political parties set into motion by the 1965 Voting Rights Act. As such, it is likely to be enduring, despite the best efforts of Presidents and reformers to transcend the extreme polarization of recent years.
http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/69651/06-30-04-death-and-taxes.jpg

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/mar/22/healthcare-barack-obama

I think the partisan divide is getting smaller. For the media they may image as if they are two separate camps, in reality the great divide in America is Educated people verses Uneducated, with Congress and politicians representing the Educated. They do what's good for them, and work to ensure an underclass is firmly in place to do the dirty work. To that end the middle class shrinks every year, as they are the only class that fights for rights all can enjoy.

It is about the same as it's always been. When Bush was in office the Dems blocked his financial reform. Now Obamas in office the GOP is blocking him. So nothing has changed. The truth is they are all thieves and it is us who pays for it. How does Bernie Kerek go to Prison and Giuliani doesn't go too. I always say why would a top notch educated Atorney give up a partnership in a Law firm for a million plus salary and go into Politics-because it is more lucrative.