There is really only one way to look at this fight for Joe Biden's agenda -- which is that for four decades, the Republican party has refused to actually govern (that is, in the sense that they try to solve anyone's problems other than their wealthy donors) and the complicit media has (and will continue to) looked the other way while they refuse to help their constituents.

How is it the Democrats' fault that Republicans use slash and burn tactics while refusing to address problems on the necessary scale? We're talking about roadblocks to Biden's agenda, but where is the sustained coverage of Sen. Joe Manchin's ties to the fossil fuel industry? The country is literally on fire -- that is, the parts that aren't underwater from massive climate-fueled storms -- and Manchin's position is one of pure self-interest. But this is portrayed as a failure of Democrats to persuade someone in the pocket of special interests to do the right thing, rather than a manifestation of the death grip that corruption has on our elected representatives. (And guess who keeps blocking election reform?)

Let me explain this in a way that even a cable news anchor might understand.

For forty years or so, the Republicans have declined to do anything other than defund the safety net, start wars, deregulate national resources, regulate women's private parts, and pass massive tax cuts.

Let's talk about those tax cuts, the ones that journalists always covered as a mere process story. They wrote about how "Republicans won" instead of "the rest of the country lost."

I want you to ponder this truth: Tax cuts are nothing but loans against deferred maintenance. Period.

Bridges and roads that don't get fixed, ancient water treatment plants that create public health problems, underfunded schools, unfiltered pollution and emissions that have led to the climate emergency.

They didn't want to fix it forty years ago, so we're paying for it now, but as emergencies -- when it's a lot more expensive than fixing it when it was first needed.

It's as if you took the money you saved to get a new roof and decided to blow it at the casino, only you do it again and again.

Why are journalists not hounding Republicans to ask why they won't vote to pay the bill they ran up all these years? Why are they not hectoring Mitch McConnell over his "I like to watch the world burn" tactics?

Why, oh, why, are Democrats the only ones expected to do any heavy lifting?