How to Turn Democrats and Republicans into Americans

Abstract

Here’s an interesting puzzle: We Americans are divided over a good many important political questions (no matter how much we may wish to deny it, there really is a red-state/blue-state split on a very wide range of issues), but on most of those issues, we nonetheless tend to be clustered within a fairly narrow range of opinions from “slightly-right-of-center” to “slightly-leftof-center.” Political candidates and pollsters routinely seek information not only about our opinions but also about the degree of intensity with which we hold those views because in most cases while we may favor one position over another, we are hardly feverish about it. In most cases, our preferences are merely that, not reasons, to draw lines in the sand and go to battle. So why do our elected officials—chosen by us and presumably representative of our preferences—so often end up in bitter and uncompromising conflict between opposing poles? If they truly represent us, why are not they more like us?