Why "grid lock?" Because conservatives no longer are concerned with helping establish Progressive Socialism and ever increasing "big government" communalism. The "lock" is more a Leftist strategy than anything from the Right. Here is why:

Yes,  the following is an “excerpt” from a well written article in Breitbart.com.  In fact,  the following words are taken from the closing salvo of the article, one you want to read in its entirety.  You have the link;  now,  read it’s closing summary statement: 

That progressives lament the Republican Party's “radicalization” is nothing more than frustration over the fact that conservatives are far less willing to work with Democrats hand-in-hand to promote their liberal agenda; far more worrying, from their point of view, it seems to be working. 

The better example for modern conservatives to follow would be the campaign of Abraham Lincoln in the 1858 Illinois Senate race. Opposing Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, one of the most powerful and popular men in the nation, Lincoln engaged in a series of debates challenging both Douglas and the status quo by defending his interpretation of America’s founding principles. 

Lincoln lost the senate race, but he changed the direction of the Republican Party, which at the time had actually courted Douglas to cross the isle and become the party’s standard bearer. But they stuck with principled Lincoln and in doing so found a winning candidate for the 1860 presidential election.

The Tea Party, drawing its name and ideas from American Founding, has upheld Reagan’s call in his farewell address for an “informed patriotism”; discussions about the limits of government, the Constitution, and America’s founding principles have become ubiquitous. For example, conservative author and commentator Mark Levin’s book, The Liberty Amendments, calling for an Article V Constitutional convention to promote amendments capping the size of government, likely could not have been published in the absence of the informed and eager Tea Party market. This a marked change from meek “me too” Republicanism that progressives would prefer.

Although there have been several notable failures, the Tea Party wave has brought to the public eye a large number of articulate communicators of the conservative message, something badly missing from the GOP. They have done a far better job of organizing at the local level for stronger conservative candidates. The next step should be to start using the strategy of the left and fight back in terms of culture, media, and education. Issues like school choice need to be at the forefront if the country is to have a new birth of freedom.