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@RationalMadman
Not really sure how this shows disagreement with my statement. I'm not arguing that one side is more or less valid than the other (and clearly, I do view the liberal side as having the stronger argument on most issues), but rather that each side has limited consideration of the arguments from the other side, and tends to apply similar logic to a broad spate of issues, even when doing so becomes less and less pragmatic.
I do agree with you here:
The problem is that when you keep saying the 'other side' is the issue, without exaggerating and being ready to seem like the bad guy, the other side can win elections, by successfully making you out to be the villain instead.
That's part of the point I'm getting at, though not quite the full measure of it. There's a certain degree of ideological purity we expect from our politicians these days, to the point that there's a lot of infighting about what can and should be the core of each party, and what should be excluded. That leads to a lot of infighting, which is another reason that each party can end up losing elections.