As an Independent who skews Liberal, the opportunity to see Conservative values and policies is often an enlightening and rewarding experience.

I’ve worded that sentence in a precise, particular way, to highlight the dumb-ass nature of current American Politics. Talk to any Conservative who will admit to any Liberal Policy being worth a crap? And vice versa? No. If you’re a modern Republican Conservative, anyone who doesn’t think like you is an idiot. Oddly, if you are a Modern Liberal, anyone who doesn’t think like you is an idiot. When did all this happen?

The Traditional Values the Right likes to claim as their own, are Values shared by every Lefty Liberal I know. And how many Liberals want to take guns away from citizens? A better question is to ask how many Liberals actually own guns. A lot.

Let’s look at it this example: Today, a Conservative offers a 10 point plan for governance. A free thinking Liberal will probably admit (NOT out loud) he supports five of the points. In The Old Days of Political Action that was called a “Starting Point”. These days its is called…I don’t know what but since the ideas are “Labeled” as Con or Lib, zealous supporters of both fire up the insult engine and the discussion is over, except for the bleacher activity where each tries to pull the other’s pants down.

This crazy stuff started before Trump, but he gets props for understanding how to capitalize on an electorate of–suddenly–idiots. Since the 80’s there have been many strident, bombastic, conservative voices who made a great living telling the usually apprehensive Conservative population anything NOT Conservative was worthless. Gingrich, Limbaugh (Yes, the one Trump gave the American Medal of Honor to), Beck, and then O’reilly, and Hannity, all painted non-conservatives as Non-Americans. I never heard the same from any loud, famous, and ultimately wealthy voices on the Left, but maybe there was, most certainly in response, at some point.

Then Grover Nordquist, the famous anti-taxer, began his campaign of making Conservatives sign a Pledge (google the Taxpayer Protection Pledge) to Lower or even end, taxes. If a Conservative didn’t sign the pledge, the non-signer was voted out of office in the next primary season. Sound familiar? Right now, in this past primary year, Republicans urged all voters to ONLY vote for Trump-loving candidates.

So. Did the Liberal side sit on their asses? No. Now, any non-Liberal thought is a threat to Democracy, with the capital D, And “both-sideism” has become part of the modern political lexicon.

So here’s what is lost: a good, conservative idea during a Liberal Administration, and a good Liberal idea during a Conservative Administration. Neither will ever be considered. How about a thoughtful, intelligent, Conservative politician running for office in a Liberal Gerrymandered area? Or–again–vice versa?

I may have an idea how this crap started, but I’ve no idea how to end this. Anyone else?

All I can say for sure is America is NOT the land of responsible adults, anymore, and I suspect we all need to look in a mirror of our own, not our news silos.

As a humorous aside, Trump is not even a Conservative. Ask Grover.

Caveat: because of space, everything is over-simplified. Do your own research, especially into the Contract with America, 1994.