I just heard a Republican congressman making generous promises to work with the Democrats on getting legislation through the new congress. Then she went on to highlight allegedly bipartisan items of legislative concern but it was 100% pure Republican agenda. I thought, eyebrows furrowing, how is that cooperating if they're going to simply work together more respectfully --- but on their own agenda? It sounded downright unfair and unpleasantly familiar. 

Then it dawned on me. I got divorced because of this type of flawed interpersonal relations. These Republicans had to be secretly under the direction by my ex-wife! She used to say she'd meet me half-way, then crook her index finger, beckoning me to start walking toward her. Her idea of reconciling on a disagreement was for us to get along better while fulfilling her agenda. We were both entitled to an opinion... her opinion. Are you seeing the trend here? So it came as no surprise that although the GOP is saying all the right words, they have no intention of bipartisan cooperation in this congress. This disfunctional intransigence goes right to the heart of why they can't get along---the two parties have diverged so far in core values since the Reagan years, that the gulf between them may be fundamentally unbridgeable.  OMG. In the words of the great Lawrence 'Yogi' Berra..."It was dejavu all over again."