I didn’t work in the jail, I worked in the administrative area of the sheriff’s office, but we all had to take the training. It was mentioned several times that the inmates had every waking hour to think of ways to game the system. Staff, on the other hand, showed up for their work shift, did their jobs and then left to deal with all the other things in their lives—kids, school, elderly parents, second jobs, groceries, house repair, etc. Their waking hours outside of jail work are filled with all these other things, but when they show up for their next shift they may be faced with someone who’s spent a lot of time planning something to mess with them.

In this analogy, Republicans are the inmates. They care not one bit about good governing. They spend all their time focused on gaming the system for their own benefit and sabotaging Democrats for fun and profit. Democrats are so busy trying to keep things going, repair damage caused by years of Republican neglect, and maybe, maybe make a few improvements that it’s easy to get caught off guard by yet another Republican offensive maneuver and you are forced to play catch-up to fix something else.