We haven’t been living in “normal” political times for quite a while — and there’s little reason to believe 2024 will be the year sanity, understanding and unity suddenly return to public discourse. 

On the bright side, despite the widespread political dysfunction of our times, the most absurd elements of either party haven’t really been capable of accomplishing much in a divided government. Indeed, even the more moderate factions within both parties have found it difficult to get things done in our era of hyper-polarization and political contempt. 

As Axios recently reported, the 118^th Congress has been one of the least productive in recent memory — getting a mere 20 bills passed by both chambers and signed into law in all of 2023. Even compared to other “unproductive” years, the last 12 months stand out as a low mark for legislative accomplishments. 

To be sure, a part of the reason for this gridlock is the division within the Republican Party as it continues to flounder in the age of Trump. The party has been so paralyzed by its own internal conflicts, it hasn’t even been capable of effectively running the one chamber it currently controls on the federal level. Earlier this year, for example, the House of Representatives was brought to a grinding halt for roughly three weeks when the Trumpian wing of the GOP suddenly decided to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy — doing so with no discernible strategy for replacing him. 

Even when intraparty squabbles weren’t shutting down the entire legislative process, however, the relentless partisanship of modern politics has produced very few opportunities to get anything accomplished. And it’s easy to see why, given how few incentives there are for politicians of either party to “reach across the aisle” on contentious or controversial issues. 

In fact, bipartisanship is a decidedly dangerous business for most elected officials nowadays. Republicans who refused to side with the far right during the saga to replace McCarthy, for example, were relentlessly attacked for being disloyal to their party. And moderate Democrats such as Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have been effectively run out of the Democratic Party for daring to occasionally buck party trends on certain issues. 

Clearly, for each party’s base, team loyalty among its members has become more important than a willingness to collaborate or compromise on critical issues. And in a divided government, that dynamic portends almost certain gridlock.  

Voters might not know exactly how unproductive things have become recently, but they nonetheless seem to have an inkling. According to a recent Pew Research study, the overwhelming majority of Americans (86 percent) believe “Republicans and Democrats are more focused on fighting each other than solving problems” — and it’s easy to see why that’s the impression most of us have about the current state of affairs.  

However, the public’s dismal outlook on politics isn’t necessarily reflected in our behavior at the ballot box. The average voter might feel as if partisanship is standing in the way of progress, but we’re nonetheless still showing up in record numbers on election day to reward candidates who feed off the fear and contempt we have for our political “others.”  

No wonder neither party is bending over backwards to court moderate voters with the sort of “big tent” politicking that once dominated American electoral strategy. 

Republicans, for example, aren’t showing much interest in divorcing themselves from Donald Trump, despite his mounting legal troubles and continued unlikability with the broader public. Indeed, he’s still the hands-on favorite to win the nomination early next year. 

The dysfunction and absurdity of contemporary politics, however, goes well beyond the GOP’s self-inflicted chaos. Despite all the damage Republicans have done to their own brand, Democrats aren’t gaining much on the generic ballot — demonstrating a lingering and nearly equal dislike among voters for both partisan teams.

Currently stuck with the oldest presidential incumbent in history running for reelection — and trailing Republicans on a plethora of “kitchen table” issues — Democrats have their work cut out for them in 2024 regardless of how disliked Trump might be among ordinary voters. And that simple fact isn’t exactly a sign that the Democratic Party is a healthy, well-run or broadly popular political operation. 

As a result, expect partisanship and polarization to simply get worse in the year ahead. 

Thankfully, at least for the time being, such division has produced a government that is oddly effective at keeping the worst impulses of the most extreme political movements in check by virtue of getting virtually nothing accomplished. Sure, Congress seems wholly incapable of tackling commonsense spending reform or implementing reasonable immigration policies — but it’s also incapable of advancing the patently loony ideas emanating from the Democratic Socialists of America or Make America Great Again populists. 

Gridlock might mean important things remain unaddressed, but it also means the most outlandish ideas in politics have no prayer of being implemented any time soon — and given how many outlandish ideas are currently floating around our political ecosystems, another 12 months of highly unproductive government might not actually be the worst thing to come our way in 2024.  

In fact, such continued gridlock might just be worth enjoying while it lasts.  Michael Schaus is a communications and branding expert based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and founder of Schaus Creative LLC — an agency dedicated to helping organizations, businesses and activists tell their story and motivate change. He has more than a decade of experience in public affairs commentary, having worked as a news director, columnist, political humorist, and most recently as the director of communications for a public policy think tank. Follow him at SchausCreative.com or on Twitter at @schausmichael.