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I think the problems are the wacko extremists on both sides, and unfortunately, the majority are extremists now. Moderates are an endangered species.
Why are we here?
I speculate that it's gerrymandering. The incumbents are drawing the lines on the map when the new census comes out, and they are drawing the lines so that they have a solid base to be reelected. So now you have districts that lean heavily Democrat or heavily Republican, but there are very few that are balanced. In a balanced district, you have to appeal to the moderate swing voters to win an election. In a gerrymandered district, you only have to appeal to your base.
Add to this the rise of the internet over the last decade or two, and like minded people finding each other on political forums. They get into this feedback loop where they think everyone agrees with them and those other people are the enemy.
And then you have the media. The Right seems to have more success at these Rush Limbaugh and Fox news type shows that get everyone marching together in an extremist lockstep formation. But the Left has made feeble attempts to go down that path as well.
Right now it all seems worse, because we are in the primaries, and the Republicans are speaking only to their base right now. So they sound like wacko extremists. It will be amusing to watch them try to change their rhetoric in several months when they try to appeal to the middle. I can't see any of them pulling it off.
All of these factors are pushing us towards more polarization, and there is little room for moderates. It's depressing.
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