I think the author's point is not that those "wide variety of ways" don't exist, but that they are currently being broken/circumvented. The standing gentlemen's

I think the author's point is not that those "wide variety of ways" don't exist, but that they are currently being broken/circumvented. The standing gentlemen's agreements to not play the game a certain way are being thrown out. Each side is using tactics that, while legal, were historically frowned upon precisely because it was understood that they would lead to the sort of gridlock we're currently experiencing. These are tactics that were understood to only be used as a last resort, but have become SOP.