You know, probably 80% of the population in communist Russia was cynical about politics. Some idealists hoped in the great utopian views promised by their leftist government, but most thought it was bullshit clear up until the bitter end. But that didn't stop them from being very patriotic. In fact, it made their cultural pride even greater.It's weird here how lots of people that are politically activated love their party more than they love their culture, or of being American. I think that's a bad thing, and I think the spin doctors have sold us all a real bad poison. They've created an unnatural division that wouldn't be there if we weren't surrounded by emotionally charged rhetoric. Each side fingers the other as "the politics of division" but they're both equally guilty of it.
Think about it. The right paints a picture of the Democrats as communists, hoping to evoke emotions from the decades of cold war. The left paints a picture of Nazi Germany and the attrocities of genocide on the Republicans. Both of these are designed to cause an emotional reaction. Both are propoganda. Both are intended to motivate people using negative imagery.
I say both of these tactics are unpatriotic and bad for the nation. I say both parties are unproductive and poisonous for the people. Their rhetoric stymies useful discourse and clogs up peoples' minds.
I doubt a powerful third party will emerge, but I suppose it might. I hope a think tank gets an idea that honesty and true attempts at problem solving might sell well in the polls. That's what it's gonna take, because they'll only do it if they think it will sell. Neither side will do it because it's patriotic or good for the nation, not a chance.