Unfortunately, it is extremely easy to count the ways

[Olga18]

Пожалуйста, помогите перевести.

Фраза встречается в следующем контексте: Just how dysfunctional is politics in America? After last week’s near-shutdown of the federal government, and with another scare to come when Congress votes on whether to raise the federal debt ceiling, this feels like a good time to ask. Unfortunately, it is absurdly easy to count the ways. Here is one fairly typical list, offered up at a recent event at the Brookings Institution by Dan Glickman, a former (Democratic) member of the House of Representatives and agriculture secretary under Bill Clinton.

First, money. Congressmen spend every waking minute raising the stuff. Their indebtedness to donors leads to paralysis, because most donors want either to retain the benefits they receive from Uncle Sam or press for more. Second, the self-reinforcing partisanship of the new media. Third, politicians are spending less time on Capitol Hill and more shoring up support back home. Reduced social contact makes it harder to build trust and strike compromises across party lines. This leads, fourth, to a reluctance to show leadership, if leading requires quarrelling with your own. Just look, says Mr Glickman, at how both parties treated the deficit-reduction proposals last year of the bipartisan Bowles-Simpson commission as a potato too hot to handle. Fifth, an atmosphere of total war encourages the parties to treat every battle, no matter how trivial, as Armageddon.

Заранее спасибо!

[silly.wizard]

Just how dysfunctional is politics in America? .... Unfortunately, it is absurdly easy to count the ways [in which politics in america is dysfunctional]