Actually, if I could have it my way we'd have a Republican President and a Democrat Congress most of the time. They'd be so busy disagreeing with each other that they wouldn't have enough energy left to screw us over.
And who knows? Without that compromise, we may very well have had President Gore.
So it's okay to tear down the Constitution if it's "our guys" swinging the hammer?
As to excusing the Congress in the matter, where was the fillibuster in the Senate, if the GOP didn't have control? And how did this even get to the floor of the House with Hastert as Speaker? Don't you think the Democrats would take those sorts of steps if they strongly disagreed with a bill?
The long-term answer has to be to not support people in office who do not support the Constitution. If we continue to reward them with our votes as they continue to thumb their noses at us, what will stop them?