American politics is so polarized....

[memphis]

I don't see that we're so polarized. The two sides dislike each other, but the things they argue about are frequently so small. Should we raise a tax rate 3%? Really, that's the polarizing issue? Let's go back ninety years and have a conversation between the IWW and the KKK. Now, that's some polarized stuff.

[memphis]

I disagree with your premise.  I question that the GOP is really made of up hard-liner conservatives.  You claim the Democrats are functioning as the party that just opposes their opposite, but I think that's the GOP.  I'll give the Democrats this credit--I think they believe what they support.  Right now, a lot of what the GOP has advocated is just done to oppose the Democrats.

The party out of power is always going to oppose the administration. That's just how it works. But the Dems were really crappy at opposing Bush, partly because we used to have so many Blue Dogs who represented Bush districts. Although some swingback is possible, I believe the sun has set on that era permanently. The next GOP prez is going to have more trouble than Bush did with the Dems.
All that said, the GOP is much more of a hard-line party. A lot of that is that there are a hell of a lot more self-identified conservatives than there are liberals in America. And part of it is that the GOP is full of authority-loving followers, while Dems have much of a wishy washy let's hold hands, split the difference, and sing Kumbaya culture. Alan Grayson aside, the Dems don't have many warriors these days. It's a shame because we used to. Bernie Sanders is as close as you get to a liberal warrior, and he's not even officially a Democrat. The GOP is chock full of warriors.

[memphis]

American politics isn't so much "polarized" as it is just really, really stupid and media-driven.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Could not agree more. The American newsmedia is godawful. The old fashioned network national news isn't terrible, but it's shallow. Cable news is so awful that words fail me. And then there's talk radio, which, with the exception of NPR, is so devoid of anything insightful that it is actually a waste of radio space. We'd be better off and better informed as a nation with those stations playing Britney Spears and Lady Gaga 24/7. The Sunday morning tv news shows are somewhat better, but all they do is give the politicians a forum for their talking points. NPR is easily the best news source around. Nobody screaming. Nobody feigning moral outrage. Just a clear presentation of the facts.

[memphis]

Liberals are just amazingly incompetent politically.

No argument here on that point. It's like the left is afraid to point out their successes with Social Security and Medicare. A lot of that is that people don't want to think of these programs as "welfare," or even "government programs" because we all intend to use them one day. We've "earned" them after all. As if magic pixies came along and showered the elderly with money and healthcare. And as if the right hadn't been vehemently opposed at the outset. It's a strange mentality.