[mmooss]

That's always been true, bugs and lobbyists, and yet our predecessors have gotten a lot done. People get things done now (including people you don't agree with).

It's not a fairy tale; it is hard; and yet our predecessors moved mountains.

[giwook]

It's the same as it's always been and yet it's different.

The political environment we live in today is not what it was even a few years ago let alone decades.

[mmooss]

It is what we make it. The problem is a victim mentality - giving others the power (for example, to define the political environment), which also absolves the 'victim' of responsibility: they're powerless!