Tribes

My wife grew up in Berkely, Ca. and, me being from the midwest, was the most liberal person I had ever met.....that was a lot of fun when she was 25 and I was 30.  After we got married and knew each other long enough to hate one another from time to time we realized that our marriage could not withstand our political discussions.....so we just didn't talk politics with each other anymore.  In time, with children, and life in general, we found plenty of other things to talk about and be mad at each other over.

We're both in our 50's now and she voted for Trump......the only thing I can figure is that one of our twin daughters has grown into a crazed, tree hugging, vegetarian, climate change warrior and my wife hates seeing herself all over again so she switched teams. (they do align whenever the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Grateful Dead, or Dave Matthews are playing within 300 miles of us for a road trip or two a year......gee, I bet that's fun)  LMAO

Me.......I mostly just sit and watch the fireworks......it's a pretty good seat. Since my son left for college I don't really have a say in any day to day decisions anyway.  I'm just here to make sure they don't kill each other.

I probably should add that the other twin would likely snatch your hat off your head if you didn't take it off for "her" National Anthem and doesn't care if the whole planet burns to the ground as long as she gets to 20 or 30 baseball and hockey games a year.  She hates her mother and sister equally.... (they grow out of this right???}...and actually owns a "Make America Great Again" ballcap.

As for Tribes.....none will have us.

I grew up in a Democrat family and voted for Clinton my first election.  It wasn't until a few years later in the military I started to read more and became a Republican based on my beliefs.

After being lock step in all things Republican for a long time I was disgusted by Bush and vowed to do everything I could to fight corruption and government waste. 

I'm still technically a registered Republican so I  am vote in my Red State primaries but I'm really a libertarian.  I am most concerned about corruption and fiscal spending.  I'm very socially conservative personally but am libertarian when it comes to pushing my belifs on others when it comes to politicians.  I'm probably the most liberal person here when it comes to civil rights.  I absolutely love Trump because he's the closest thing I've ever seen to my belief system.

oh, and I absolutely hate fake boogie men our government creates to steal our money.

I've been pretty much a fiscal conservative - yes I've even recently voted Republican for governor.  Moderate on other issues, with the big exception that I do elieve government has a role to play in maintaining competition -- preventing monopoly powers on big business.  So in that sense I've supported certain decisions like preventing the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile (I've watched the Baby Bells slowly reform into the liquid-metal Terminator... enough is enough already!).

I also believe that the patent and copyright systems offer protection for way too long especially in a modern tech world.  The Sonny Bono copyright term extension was ridiculous and a total handout to Disney.  And the long patent terms really not only handcuff tech startups but also hurt our bottom line when dealing with big pharma.

That said, at the national level I feel like the Republican party has moved way to the right over the last 15 years or so, which makes it more difficult for me, as I don't want to vote for people who are completely unable to compromise.

I hear you on the monopoly stuff.  Drives me nuts. 

Isn't it funny that I consider the left EXACTLY like that. 

Not trying to be sarcastic, honestly........I'm stunned that both side basically feel exactly the same.  I'm afraid that doesn't bode well for the future......there's going to be a reckoning I'm afraid...how else could it end?

More parties(?)  Pipe dream I suppose, but if something in the middle really became viable, the democratic and republican parties would have to move center to try and squash it.

One of the things I've been a big supporter of is instant-runoff voting.  The big parties hate it because it threatens their stranglehold on the system.  But basically - it means if your preferred candidate doesn't win, then your vote goes to your next choice, and so on.  That way you can vote for, say, Gary Johnson and have Trump be your fallback vote (or whatever).  It takes away the fear that "a vote for a 3rd party is a vote for your enemy".

I get that.......my point is that the majority of us reside in the middle politically......and the extreme ends drive the bus.  I think that ends in a fiery bus crash.