Why are we so politically divided?

[hfojvt]

18. Actually Clinton gets some of the blame

Who was one of the last Republicans to compromise with Democrats?

It was George H W Bush. For the good of the country, to reduce the deficit, he agreed to the Democrats bill which raised taxes.

And what happened?

The Democrat Bill Clinton used that against him in the election of 1992.

In the words of Pan - bad form!

Let's not pretend that we are not part of the problem. What do we call the other side? A collection of racist, misogynist, xenophobic, homophobic fundies. What do we call Democrats who compromise with them? We call them DINOs. We want them to be primaried from the left.

Well, the Republican wing of the the Republican Party is just as fired up about RINOs, and the money and media noise machine gives those people a megaphone and a fair amount of clout.

"everybody who doesn't agree with them is the enemy".

You know where I have found that attitude more than anywhere else I have seen it in my life - right here on DU. Not saying that this is limited to the left. Seems to me there are some conservatives I have known from DI (and also here) who are real pieces of work as far as being intolerant of opposing views.

And I might be wrong on that, or it is a selection bias of some sort, but in arguments here it often seems like my opponent almost never just thinks I am wrong. They think I am wrong AND evil (or have some other defect, like racism, wilful ignorance, just plain stupidity, perhaps a mental illness, etc.) and they often will get applauded for saying so.