I'd say on an observational level, you hit the nail on the head. But here's where #conspiracy comes in.

I'm so far down the proverbial rabbit hole that I've become convinced that the two party system is a complete sham. The gridlock we experience is manufactured by our politicians to keep us distracted from the real goings on. I like to use the analogy of professional wrestling. Inside the ring (congress/senate), they are at each others throats, talking trash, and generally trying to be more obnoxious than the next. But then outside the public eye, they're having drinks together, playing golf, and discussing how to keep their ratings up. They all take their orders not from the fans (the voters/taxpayers), but from their corporate sponsors and producers (lobbyists/media).

As far as I'm concerned, virtually every politician that gets media coverage on a regular basis talks out of both sides of their mouth and couldn't care less about the non-politically connected.