You are exactly right and often times the ability to derail a reform plan in the legislature costs it support not only by seemingly discrediting it in the polit

You are exactly right and often times the ability to derail a reform plan in the legislature costs it support not only by seemingly discrediting it in the political process but also forcing reform advocates to support a concrete bill that has real consequences while opponents don't need to offer anything and can attack consequences of the bill passing out of context. No one is sure it will pass, so invariably some members waver and the bill is watered down to guarantee support, at which point it becomes compromised and rather ineffective which once again discredits reform. Its interesting in the post-1945 election in the UK very few voters strongly supported the NHS but once it passed it developed bipartisan support. The chances of a party taking every house of congress a supermajority in the senate and the presidency to have the ability to move legislation is incredibly small in our system as compared to a parliamentary one. I'm not suggesting that our system is always worse but in this instance it certainly is.