There is a silver lining in the Republicans having all three branches of government under their control. Simply put it is that there is no one else to blame. It helps those who believe in a more parliamentary form of government. If a party is in control of government then there is no way to blame anyone else when things go bump in the night.  However, this is not always an "elite v elite" battle. There are real people that are effected by the decisions the Supreme Court makes and rarely do these discussions revolve around those individuals.  There was one moment when the country might have broken out of this death spiral (the rich elite being able to control decisions and policy through campaign donations) and the Republicans blocked the appointment. I believe that everything depends on overturning "Citizens United" and restoring our Republic.  Thus the democrats must treat this as a quid pro quo and never vote for a Republican nominee until the Republicans give back the stolen seat.