Never in most of our lifetimes, not even during the Watergate years or the Clinton impeachment, have the federal government’s elective branches begun a new biennium with less likelihood for accomplishment and greater threat of chaos.

The atmosphere in Washington is too toxic. The ideological polarization on Capitol Hill is too severe, leavened by far too few moderates of either party. The tradition of friendly relations “across the aisle” is mostly a distant memory. The power of hardline activist groups on both sides, demanding purity rather than effective compromise, has grown too great. The litmus tests regarding the border wall and abortion are too dominant. And the civil society undergirding our political system has eroded too much.