A unified theory of politics

I think I might have figured it out.

1. Most Democratic voters are seriously uninformed, haven't thought very deeply about the issues, and are voting mainly on tribal loyalty.
2. But a lot of them are well informed, have thought deeply about the issues, and are voting based on values and some good thought about how the world works.
3. Points 1 and 2 apply equally to Republican voters.

I could probably extend point 3 to Labour, Tories, Lib Dems, PRI, SDP, and any other large party anywhere. (You're probably less likely to support a minor party, be it Libertarians or Greens, without having thought about it a lot.)

What are the implications? Well, first, it should show that it's not that impressive to point out stupid things said by supporters of the opposition; supporters of your side are saying lots of stupid things too. You want to get somewhere, try to engage with the better arguments from the opposition.

And that leads nicely into my second point, which is that the opposition generally has some good arguments for their position. Not all people who disagree with you are uninformed. Often it comes down to a difference in values. Sometimes it's differing predictions about the effect of a policy. It's almost always subjective differences, not objective ones.

This is why I rarely try to changes peoples opinions about policy. Instead, I just try to change their opinions of my opinions. If I can convince someone that you don't have to be an idiot to support, say, market-based health care reforms, I'll call that a success, even if I can't convince them that those reforms are the best policy.