Americans divided, not collectively fed up

In a Jan. 29 editorial [“No budget, no pay,” Opinion], The Times refers to polls showing that “Americans are fed up with Congress,” as if all Americans were some kind of unitary entity. They aren’t.

The truth is that Americans are divided, more so than any time since the 1960s. Other polls show people mostly supporting their own representatives, which indicates they’re mostly fed up with the other party. And still others show that more Americans blame Republicans for the current gridlock than Democrats.

The media trope of “partisan bickering” papers over the reality of sharp political disagreements, which will only be resolved when one side is strong enough to overcome the other. We have a ways to go. Get used to it.

--Chris Nielsen, Shoreline