A Republican attempt to dismantle America’s existing healthcare system, popularly known as Obamacare, came to naught this week after four party Senators refused to support it. Republican Senate leaders had secretly drafted the Bill, without any public hearing and hoping to railroad the Democratic opposition. But it still did not work.

The famed American idea of bipartisanship, in which both parties work together on key issues, has become a thing of the past. The sharp deterioration began when Barack Obama was elected President in 2008. The Republican leadership decided to do everything possible to ensure that his was a one-term presidency. They could not achieve that, but obstruction was effective at multiple levels, particularly after they won control of the Senate in 2014. Hundreds of nominations to important executive posts were kept blocked, including Ambassadors to crucial countries. To top it all, in an unprecedented move, the Republican Senate refused to vote on a Supreme Court nominee of Mr. Obama in 2016.

Now, Republicans are getting a taste of their own medicine. Democrats have slowed down the confirmation process for Trump nominees, by invoking a rule under which a two-day waiting period and 30 hours of debate must precede each confirmation. In 31 of the 52 confirmations so far, the Democrats have triggered this rule.

More than five dozen names are now pending. Going by the pace so far — 3.5 days for one confirmation — Republican leaders say it will take 11 years before 1,242 appointments that require Senate confirmation are completed!

The idea of bipartisanship perhaps lost its legitimacy among the general public as it was primarily used to support economic policies that they found to be against their interests. Congressional elections are now effectively fought in the party primary, political commentators point out. Moderates within the party have no option but to fall in line in the general election in a two-party system. General elections are largely pre-decided, thanks to what is called gerrymandering, or carving out Congressional districts such that a particular party retains its dominance.

Paying back

The most offensive are often rewarded. Representative Joe Wilson, who shouted “you lie” to Mr. Obama during a joint address to Congress in 2009, raised $1 million in contributions in the following week.

The Republican base had considered Mr. Obama to be an undeserving President. Now, the Democratic base is returning the favour to Donald Trump, who they feel has no right or eligibility to be President. As Congressional investigations into Russia’s alleged involvement in the U.S. presidential election gather steam, the hostility too is set to grow.

While both parties are unwilling to concede an inch to the other, they coordinate their actions to stop the emergence of independents. There are only two independent members in the U.S. Congress — Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont and Angus King from Maine. Former Republican Senator Larry Pressler recounts his attempt to run as an independent in 2014, in his book, Neighbours in Arms: An American Senator’s Quest for Disarmament in a Nuclear Subcontinent, released this week.

“I was attacked by everyone. Both the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Democratic Senatorial Committee, both the uber-liberal donor George Soros and the super conservative Koch brothers, and both the National Rifle Association (NRA) and gun- control groups spent money in my state to defeat me,” he writes.