Princeton , New Jersey ( CNN ) -- Washington is stifled by gridlock . As New Jersey Gov . Chris Christie said in his speech at the Ronald Reagan Library , `` We drift from conflict to conflict , with little or no resolution . '' Even the most routine budgeting decisions turn into high-stakes showdowns with threats of default and government shutdowns . The party leaders are deep into a mindset with which they feel free to threaten , cajole and refuse to act until the very last moment . Big decisions are put off . Small issues are barely resolved . Gridlock , however , is not politically neutral . The conventional wisdom is that under current conditions nothing gets done -- and neither party benefits . But in fact , the chronic battles over budget decisions tend to benefit the Republican agenda . While it seems that neither side is making progress when the government machine grinds to a halt , in fact Democrats keep losing as the agenda shifts toward the right . Gridlock benefits Republicans and , more broadly , conservative politics , for several reasons . The first is that without normalized and predictable budgets , government agencies ca n't engage in long-term planning . Agency heads have to scramble from month to month just to keep existing programs intact . The notion of designing long-term plans to improve and strengthen programs goes out the window . Even an agency like the Federal Emergency Management Agency ca n't count on having the funds that it needs in dire emergencies . The result is that the key agencies of government are steadily weakened . A government in gridlock also fails to update programs as times change . As the political scientists Suzanne Mettler and Andrew Milstein found , the inflation-adjusted value of welfare payments , the minimum wage , food stamps and unemployment benefits all fell steadily after the 1970s . The second reason that Democrats are harmed by gridlock is because a dysfunctional Washington fuels public distrust in the federal government . A CNN/ORC poll recently found that only 15 % of the public trusts government to do what is right always or most of the time , a notable decline from the 25 % level in September 2010 . When the public does not trust the government , Republicans win . After all , a key argument of modern conservatism has been that government intervention , at least when it comes to domestic issues , is bad . `` Government is not the solution to our problem , '' President Ronald Reagan said , `` Government is the problem . '' That argument resonates much more when voters are watching the current circus in the nation 's capital . It is not surprising that the conservative movement flourished in the 1970s and 1980s , two decades that witnessed a sharp decline in public trust of government institutions . As gridlock generates doubts about the ability of politicians to handle problems , the ability of Democrats to win support for federal programs vastly diminishes . Finally , gridlock shrinks the political space that exists to propose new programs . With gridlock this strong , and a budget process that is so grueling , most of the energy in Washington turns toward protecting existing programs from elimination . Ultimately , a strong Democratic Party can only thrive when it is possible to push new government initiatives . Otherwise , the party loses much of its vibrancy and becomes a more moderate shadow of the GOP . While Republicans push to cut domestic programs , Democrats are left simply calling for smaller cuts . This is not the kind of rallying cry that a party needs to galvanize strong majorities , nor is it a way to build a historical legacy . For all these reasons , a period of gridlock is a period of Republican strength . Perhaps the toughest part about this for Democrats is that the impact of the paralysis is not visible to most Americans , including many of the party 's most loyal supporters . Voters simply see an entire system that is broken and one where nothing appears to get done . The reality , however , is that Republicans keep moving forward as their opponents stand still . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Julian E. Zelizer .
Julian Zelizer : On the left , it seems gridlock hurts both parties . He says Democrats suffer more since their party places more restrictions on government . This prevents government agencies from proposing and taking the initiative . Clinton : Focus for Democrats shifts from proposing to protecting government agencies .