Tribalism has ruined American politics. In today’s climate, important issues are repeatedly swept under the rug or overlooked in favor of a petty “us vs. them” mentality, regardless of whether you identify as a liberal or conservative. For many, their political ideology is centered around an unwavering commitment to their party and a stubborn refusal to see an ounce of good in the opposing side.
Whether it is Republicans claiming all Democrats are socialism-propagating traitors, or Democrats reducing all Republicans to racist, neo-fascists, we have a serious problem in this country hindering any kind of reasonable political progress. The real issues almost never have the spotlight anymore, and this is alienating the more moderate among us from participating in party politics. 
Some might ask why it even matters if people participate in party politics. Both parties are full of lying career politicians, right? Sure, this is true, but when voters feel alienated and like no one is speaking to them, it has been proven countless times they will not turn out for an election.
I am by no means claiming this single-handedly caused the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, but mobilizing radical beliefs and sensationalizing everything played a great deal in someone like President Donald Trump actually winning the election. I also believe the 2016 election set the new standard for what politics will be on both sides of the aisle, as Democrats have been just as terrible in their own way since then. 
For them, the biggest culprit has been their complete over-reliance on identity politics. The biggest part of their strategy has become pandering to disadvantaged demographics and weaponizing their distrust of other groups, which largely includes Republicans.
Helping disenfranchised people sounds noble on paper, but the reality of the way many liberals go about doing this has resulted in groups like Black Lives Matter effectively deeming all white people the enemy, or sects of communities like the LGBT movement promoting hyper-acceptance to the point of being antagonistic to any without the same view. An excerpt from Amy Chua’s “Political tribes,” reported by The Guardian, speaks on this very issue and sums up the mainstream liberal mindset: “Although inclusivity is presumably still the ultimate goal, the contemporary Left is pointedly exclusionary,” Chua explains.
Republicans have learned to use identity politics too, but to me, they are less specific in their social division and more focused on broadly generalizing liberals as un-American. They use a handful of hot-button topics to constantly rile the constituency up, and keep their attention on being outraged at the Left. From Colin Kaepernick’s “disrespect of the troops,” to the NRA’s crusade on the liberals “taking away their guns” and many, many other distractions.
They have fostered an outrage culture in their party and seem to be more concerned with what Democrats are doing wrong than what they are doing right. They have completely and utterly demonized the Left, which of course is not far from what the Democrats have done, until you realize a large percentage of Republicans stubbornly stick by politicians like Roy Moore and Brett Kavanaugh no matter what.
In fact, in a Sept. 26 NPR-PBS-Marist poll, 54 percent of Republicans thought Kavanaugh should be confirmed to the Supreme Court, even if the sexual assault allegations against him were confirmed. 
For people who like to think for themselves, and who might actually not vote for the same party every election cycle, the state of American politics is both laughable and incredibly sad. These people, who I believe should not be such a minority, are left wondering who is fighting for them. They feel out of place in either major party, and have nothing to do but watch the country potentially hurl its way into one of the worst states it has ever been in.
I legitimately fear for the future of America, as we are playing a very dangerous game with this new political landscape. We have to find a way to disagree without engaging in some kind of social warfare with our countrymen, because as we have heard before during the apex of our country’s internal strife, a house divided cannot stand.