That is the American tragedy of the early 21st century: a vital and self-renewing culture that attracts the world’s talent, and a governing system that increasingly looks like a joke. One thing I’ve never heard in my time overseas is “I wish we had a Senate like yours.”

In the most-recent issue of the Atlantic, James Fallows has an insightful examination of the strengths and flaws of the contemporary United States of America: How American Can Rise Again. He is largely optimistic, but as the quote suggests, he identifies our political system as unrepresentative, unable to engage major issues and perhaps irredeemably broken. An interesting read.

As the New York Times reports, Oregon Representative Earl Blumenauer shares the same frustration many progressives do with stalled advocacy and a sense of being taken for granted.

Instead of forging ahead, Mr. Blumenauer, 61, finds himself fighting to retain one of the touchstones for liberals this year, a public insurance option in the health care overhaul, and is watching his hopes of curbing global warming grow cold in the Senate. Mr. Blumenauer, a seven-term congressman, is bracing for a tough vote on sending more troops to Afghanistan while he frets about the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay remaining open.

One caveat, though. If anyone thinks that there has been “an unexpected level of Republican opposition,” well, then they’re really unforgivably naive. Obama’s misstepped in attempting to sincerely partner with people whose self-interest lies in seeing him fail.

The Atlantic sums it up:

On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush’s two terms. While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health insurance spiked. By contrast, the country’s condition improved on each of those measures during Bill Clinton’s two terms, often substantially.

That doesn’t mention the moral abomination of needless war and torture. Filth begat filth.

Waterboarding might be an excruciating procedure with deep roots in the history of torture, but for the C.I.A.’s Office of Medical Services, recordkeeping for each session of near-drowning was critical. “In order to best inform future medical judgments and recommendations, it is important that every application of the waterboard be thoroughly documented,” said medical guidelines prepared for the interrogators in December 2004.

The required records, the medical supervisors said, included “how long each application (and the entire procedure) lasted, how much water was used in the process (realizing that much splashes off), how exactly the water was applied, if a seal was achieved, if the naso- or oropharynx was filled, what sort of volume was expelled, how long was the break between applications, and how the subject looked between each treatment.”

The New York Times has an article detailing how carefully the CIA doled out its torture (with guidance from the White House, of course).