Glorious Gridlock

Fact: Washington’s inability to get stuff done is the most critical issue facing our nation today — and, who knows, maybe ever.

I know this because D.C.’s lack of productivity has been the focus of countless panel discussions, featuring lots of important people. It’s a topic churned through endlessly by distressed pundits and columnists. It’s a calamity that drives an entire subgenre of political journalism. (“Can this government be saved?” asks one unsettling headline I ran across in USA Today recently.) In neighborhood markets and gas stations across this great nation, from Beacon Hill to Chappaqua to Adams Morgan, Washington’s impotence weighs heavily on the minds of most ordinary Americans.