During a frank discussion with host David Gura on MSNBC on Sunday, former Daily Show host Jon Stewart called politics the place “where solutions go to die.”

“The optimism comes from being part of a more grassroots efforts and realizing that something happens when they come together in that town that the politics of that town I think supersede any of — I like to say politics is where solutions go to die,” Stewart said during the panel. “They go to die because calculation starts to change. Everything they do down there is a self-conscious calculation.”

He added: “Washington is about reelection, not about service because there’s a whole other argument. In the perpetual campaign that it’s become, the idea of campaigns and reelections are so far removed from the idea of governance and we have a system that’s really good at reelecting people and not very effective at governing.”

He concluded by pointing out that it is evidenced by how politicians in Washington spend their day.

“Man, you’ve been down there. What do Congress people do four or five hours a day?” Stewart asked. “They’re on the phone making calls. For what? For money.”

[image via screengrab]

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]