It never was a harmless spectator sport. Politics has always been about money, whether that money came from slavery or railroads or Indian lands or health insurance companies is irrelevant. Hamilton died in a duel, remember? And the Civil War was fought by God-fearing patriots on both sides. Do you wonder why I reject appeals to God and Country out of hand? Religion and nationalism are both the refuge of scoundrels.

TB, there will always be conflict between political factions, that has never changed and never will. And whenever it happens, someone always claims "this time it's different, if this happens (or doesn't) it will be the end of the world. We must stop this WHATEVER IT TAKES."

NO. The world ends when one side is so convinced it's right that it feels it has the right to cheat. And when absolutist but highly dubious moral arguments are dragged in to justify what are to me merely self-serving agendas, I get very suspicious. Especially when the talk starts swinging, even metaphorically, to "revolution". Too much blood has been shed on principle. Unfortunately, self-serving agendas are hard to characterize objectively. Sooner or later we have to rely on what we feel is right, but we must never forget maybe the other guy is doing the exact same thing. I felt very comfortable with much of what happened in the 60s, but when people started blowing things up, or even talking about it, they lost my support tout de suite.

I have a lot of sympathy (much more than you probably realize) with conservative concerns about the size and intrusiveness and inefficiency of government. These are valid concerns, and I (and other liberals), would probably be much more tempted to work with you (at least in some areas) and even to resist the excesses of our side if it wasn't for the nature of conservative rhetoric and arguments. If you're baffled by the suspicion with which your views are met by otherwise educated, intelligent, and decent people, you might profit by considering the tone of your discourse.

I really doubt you have any conception at all how much damage your own side has done to the acceptance of even its most legitimate and reasonable concerns. Personally, I can see myself working for some of their policies, but I would find it morally unacceptable to work alongside some of them.