Fear and Loathing in Government

I am not a hard person to please.  I feel like I have an appreciation for people who try their best and make a sincere effort.  When my kids bring me an object of self-created art, I do not critique their form (sometimes their spelling, but only for didactic purposes), I accept, appreciate and value what they have done.  As a Pastor, when someone has an idea, a talent or a passion for some project, I usually say "go for it," and I consciously avoid trying to micromanage them out of the picture.  I am pretty easy-going, by no means a perfectionist and I generally appreciate the grace that abounds when people bring different talents to the table.
That being said, if my children were in the United States Congress I would send them to bed without dinner (not something I have ever done to Jack or Cate by the way).  No one ever said democracy was an easy thing, and so I don't expect miracles, but a reasonable expectation might be to actually do something (like pass a budget so that important programs don't get hamstrung).  If Congress was the Session (the local governing board of a Presbyterian church) of a congregation where I was the pastor we would be going on a retreat so that we could learn to act like grown-ups.
I'm no political expert, CNN isn't calling me up asking for my opinion on much of anything, but from a distance I recognize a system that is gridlocked by fear and loathing.  Right now, the balance of power is such that idealogues on both sides of the aisle can basically hold the whole assembly hostage.  That is a sign of institutional disease, a cancer of the system.  The framers of our Constitution created a system of checks and balances so that something as easily manipulated as a simple majority could get very little accomplished.  Which is a good idea when the "ideal" society you envision is basically a confederation of wealthy, land-owning, white men.  In that case you all understand each other and can usually come to mutually agreeable compromises.
As of right now, the rich, white guys are still in charge, but they're scared, because the nation they are trying to govern is rather different than the homogeneous agrarian society that produced our esteemed Constitution.  Frightened people generally do one of two things: fight or flight.  Congress is not going to run away, because they're too rich and too powerful, so they're going to fight.  Who are they going to fight?  Each other?  Maybe a little, but they've sort of got an understanding among themselves, they're all in the club and they have a vested interest in the gravy train not stopping or even slowing down.
Corporations and rich folk line their pockets come election time, and so they're not going to want to go after the CEO's at JP Morgan unless they absolutely have no choice (which consequently tells you how really bad things have gotten).
No they're not going to go after their fellow rich, white guys.  They're going to basically use the poor and the middle class and the aliens in our midst as the battleground, and they're going to make sure that we sustain the most collateral damage.  They're going to assuage their fear by stoking ours, they're going to promise us that they know how we can join their club, but they're going to take away any real chance that we can do it.
The Prophet Isaiah says this: "Woe to you who add house to house, and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land."  And that's not actually an isolated sentiment, it's a rather large theme in the Hebrew Scriptures and in Jesus' teaching: if you take everything for  yourself and don't leave enough for the weaker, more vulnerable people in your world, God is not going to be happy with you.
I don't often talk about who God is going to be angry with, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be angry with people who were immensely successful and didn't use their blessings for the good of the world.  I'm pretty sure God will not be smiling on those who gain wealth, power and influence and then begin stepping on those they should be treating as neighbors.
What then should we say about people who were elected "democratically," who refuse to think about the best interest of the "common man?"
What should we say about those we have trusted with the duty of leading our society, who then refuse to make the simple decisions and implement the most common sense measures to improve our nation?
I suppose, in the final analysis, what should we say about a nation of people who re-elect them year after year?