Republicans’ failure to pass reforms to health care or taxes or anything, really, since President Trump’s election has been called a civil war: moderates blocked by conservatives, with Mr. Trump trying to find the right combination to break the deadlock.

In many ways, however, that’s not the real battle. The real battle is about our vision for how legislators should do their jobs. Should they compromise or should they stand on strict principles?

In the past, congressional bargaining was greased by pork – the side deals to persuade hesitant legislators. Now, thanks to the voter rebellion known as the tea party, pork is gone. In short, voters told Congress to value purity over pragmatism.

That’s why getting anything done has been so hard. In that way, the picture in Washington now is not of dysfunction, it is of Washington doing exactly what voters told it to do.

In today’s edition, we'll examine shoots of promise in the Rust Belt, a picture of a dictatorship in denial, and a different approach to addressing domestic abuse among Syrian refugees.