“... opponents should instead try to affect government at the ballot box ...”
Um excuse me, but isn’t that the reason Republicans control congress? They won the House of Representatives at the ballot box.
When they win, they never really win. When they lose and the Dems are in charge, the R’s are blamed by the Dems for the Dems not getting anything done. The power sharing when the Dems lost control by the Republicans to play nicey nicey set the stage. Dems don’t care to play nicey nicey. They say, “we won”.