The Upright Man. on The Ivy Exile

Arguing in bad faith. In other words, not buying your bullshit. I hear this from both sides, and it seems to slip the minds of most cuture warriors that people do not necessaraly start with your priors or share your shibboleths, and when they don't they will be quite quick to cut them down to size, at least in their own minds. I am sure that this seems like they approach coversations like a bad actor, when in reality they are moving their own ideas and points to the fore. Which is entirely human. When someone starts off thinking that the other person is acting in bad faith, then there is very little room for landing an agreement, which, to your point, is needed to carry over any true sweeping policy. One thing that often gets ignored is that half the country is more conservative than the other half. And while that is a truism, it needs to be looked at more often. The simple matter is that Republican and Democrat are just names we place on the political wing for the two halves of American politics, and no matter what policy wins you have, no matter if you completely vanquish the other party, it still remains that half the country is more conservative than the other half. In a democratic or republican system of goverance, you still need to deal with that other half and their wants and needs.