This is too much for a dumb blogger, but I recommend someone smarter than me write a good piece about how being the incentives for being a hardworking member of Congress - especially but not just in the House - are lacking in that there isn't really all that much good (or EVIL) work for any individual member to devote themself to. I have a sense of why this has changed. There are many reasons. But the incentives - ON BOTH SIDES - for either doing nothing or going big with theatrics trump trying to accomplish, well, anything.
