That’s a key internal link---tech lobbies will spend millions to switch critical votes.

The root cause of this dysfunction has been the sorting of Americans into two warring tribes, liberal and conservative, Democrat and Republican. Over time, this hyperpartisan competition has played out to a stalemate in Congress, with legislative majorities that are so small and tenuous that every issue is now viewed through the lens of how it could tip the next election.

And so it was with a handful of bills meant to end the anticompetitive business practices of Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google. By early 2022, all had been voted out of committees in both chambers with bipartisan majorities. All had broad support from voters, knowledgeable experts, regulators and the White House. Yet not one was taken up by the full House and Senate.

The prime suspect in this legislative murder mystery is Big Tech itself. In terms of lobbying, advertising, public relations and stepped-up campaign contributions, the four companies spent an estimated $250 million to kill the various bills. In financial terms, that represented about 1/10 of 1 percent of their combined annual profits. On a political scale, it was an overwhelming show of force.