Do our elected officials really believe they were put in office?

I agree completely.

Unfortunately, the people we elect to office are not like the "average person". I don't mean this in the same way that the average Congressional Candidate would make you think of them as the "average person". Elected officials of the Democrats tend to be more liberal than the average democrat, and the elected officials of the Republicans tend to be more conservative than the average republican.

Couple that with a bad economy and name-calling, these gridlocks tend to be inevitable.

Now there is a myth. Gridlock does not mean that LESS policies go through. Actually, it just means that the policies that are attempting to go through are more PUBLICLY criticized (James Q. Wilson, 2007).

Lastly, I believe that the job of a Congressperson is to be re-elected. People in Office HAVE to make others look bad (even in their own party) to increase the chances they will be re-elected in their district. Congresspeople have the duty to convince their constituents to believe no one else. This causes tensions within Congress and other government institutions to raise dramatically.

I don't believe that Gridlock is what the Framer's wanted, or even what a functional democracy requires, but sometimes it is inevitable :(