ARLINGTON, Va. — The first general session on Monday at the American Industrial Hygiene Association's 2014 Fall Conference began with a presentation by Ron Elving, a senior editor and on-air analyst for NPR in Washington, D.C.

An engaging, interesting and charismatic speaker, Elving discussed why politics suddenly feels like choosing sides in a war compared to the bipartisanship available decades ago. There are still many things that need to be fixed in the U.S., but Elving thinks the current problems in Washington may not necessarily be the fault of Washington itself.

It is no big secret that the days of bipartisanship are seemingly over when it comes to Capitol Hill. Elving pointed out that rather than conservatives and liberals working together, now it's more like a constant deadlock in which neither side is willing to budge — to the point of allowing a situation to worsen rather than compromise.

"Conflict must lead to engagement, and engagement must lead to compromise," he said.

However, the problem, Elving says, may not be with Washington or the Capitol. Here's why.

When our political parties work together, the political system runs like a well-oiled machine. And when the system works well, it's because of centrists. Centrists — like Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) — are deal-makers. They are the swing votes that keep things in balance. They are the lubricant in this large political machine. Without them, the machine overheats, damages itself and breaks down.

In today's Congress, centrists seem to be essentially gone, and now the party primaries are the most important part of the political system. But this creates a problem — the primaries curate to the far left and the far right.

So rather than having parties work together, what you get are politicians who lean far one way or another and refuse to work together like they did in the past. Take the Senate, for example, which has always relied on bipartisan relationships. From Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy to Ted Stevens and Daniel Inouye, they were all willing to work together, despite the fact that they belonged to different parties.

"You don't see that anymore," Elving said. "Senate collaborations are rare."

Meanwhile, the media is doing nothing to help the situation, according to Elving, who believes it is well within his rights to comment since he is, in fact, a part of the media. "It pays to be partisan" seems to be the media's new slogan — or at least that's what it feels like.

Elving pointed out that the news is now social, and it is everywhere. Journalism means "day cycle," but that doesn't apply to the media anymore. News is now constant and everywhere, particularly when it comes to social media sites and YouTube.

YouTube's uploaded video content doubled between 2010 and 2012, and the amount of time spent online has doubled in the past five years. Every click prompts another, and now the news time frame is constant. Social media is changing the way Americans see everything.

Lastly, Elving touched on the fact that the Republican Party will likely regain control of Congress after the 2014 elections, according to previous studies of cycles and the state of the country in the sixth year of presidencies. The GOP only has to defend half as many seats as the Democrats.

We have to ask ourselves if this is the America we really want, Elving points out. If not, we need to ask ourselves what we can do about it. The media is a huge part of the problem, but when it comes down to it, these problems are on us.