As a mass consumer of popular sentiment surrounding politics, I can say without hesitation that most of that sentiment is grossly uninformed. Just as 2 out of 3, or 5 out of 7, or a peck in a bushel, cannot find America on a map, so too are the opinions of our electorate. To wit: browse if you dare the comment boards on Foxnews.com, or better yet for a politically neutral sample, craigslist Rants'n'Raves. Such slanderous, illiterate gibberish is hard to believe, yet there it is, in its horrible, glorious profusion. Not surpisingly, most of the popular concepts about our political opponents are formed in a similar millieu: modern media and cyberspace that constantly seek the most outlandish, the most confrontational, the most (xy/z) they can think of. Even more corrosive to all of us, is the pursuit not just of the spectacular, but the spectacularly negative. Democrats become communists. Republicans become fascists. Bankers wipe down their jets with snow otter pelts. Union members make $100k from disability alone. And Libertarians cap off a nice day at the gun range by sterilizing foster kids so they wont be a drain on the state.
As a Libertarian in Northern California, I know full well that some of my political views are a bit at odds with American liberalism. I also know that I have much much more in common with it than I do differing: Gay marriage. The drug war. Gitmo. Wiretapping. Civilian trials. Rendition. Choice in family planning. Church v State. Science v. creation. And trumping all of those: A shared commitment to the democratic process that lets us execute our ultimate political solutions peacefully and within the boundaries of our common law. It should go without saying, I would hope, that we share that last value as well with Republicans. Just because SOME of them like to write laws, say, curtailing the rights of homosexuals, and then blow strangers in the airport for meth, doesn't mean that MOST of them aren't simply faithfully pursuing what they truly think is best for our country.
The blowing strangers thing is of course an indulgence on my part in the sensationalism I referred to earlier, but it brings me to my next point:
Where Dems and Libertarians disagree is almost all about money. Money can be negotiated. More can be earned, less can be spent. We can find the dollar amount that we are all satisfied with. It's fairly straightforward quantitative analysis and horse trading to reach spending levels that work.
Where I diverge from the Republicans is far thornier: I'm simply not interested in having my soul saved. I want to smoke a joint if I'm on vacation in Hawaii. I want to watch filthy subversive art shows. I want to spank to internet porn and buy tequila on Sundays. And most importantly, I want to live in a country where we all enjoy the freedom to do those things, and anything else we damn well please, providing it involves consenting adults and a decent regard for public safety.
Simply put, I don't feel like Republicans want to live in the America I do, but Democrats do. The Dems and I are just arguing over the bill, while the Republicans are talking to management, trying to have me thrown out.