I've been meaning to write this for a while now, but I'll just go ahead and spout it out now, 'cause I've got other things to write about in the queue as well...

Feedback on my last post taught me or lead me to realize a few things. In the interest of expedience, I'll put them in list form:

1. Raber's comment made me realize that sentiments like those are probably why we're seen as "elitist and arrogant", and to some degree, deservedly so (perhaps the arrogance more than the elitism).
2. Axel pointed out that the difference between liberals/Democrats vs conservatives/Republicans might be aesthetic, so arguing within the liberal aesthetic framework was kind of pointless (or at least I think that was the point). I sort of got it, but didn't really until...
3. One of Linda's links further pointed at an essay titled What makes people vote Republican?. According to that essay, it seems like the main differences come down to moral considerations. While liberals care about "harm/care and fairness/reciprocity", conservatives are also concerned with "ingroup/loyalty (involving mechanisms that evolved during the long human history of tribalism), authority/respect (involving ancient primate mechanisms for managing social rank, tempered by the obligation of superiors to protect and provide for subordinates), and purity/sanctity (a relatively new part of the moral mind, related to the evolution of disgust, that makes us see carnality as degrading and renunciation as noble)". I think ingroup/loyalty in particular helps explain why Republicans seem to want "someone like them" to be in office.
4. So, what it all boils down to is, the state of bipartisan (electoral) politics today seems to me a lot like a game of "football", where one side is playing American football and the other is playing soccer, and both sides are accusing the other of doing it wrong and messing things up. It's kinda hard to say who's right and who's wrong, except...
5. Unlike this hypothetical game of football, there is a clear winner in electoral politics. Further more, the country is run by those who are elected, and not at all by those who aren't (well, Obama would still be a Senator, I guess). So, given that, it seems like electoral politics isn't about issues at all, but about winning. You can be all uppity and lofty about it, but at the end, no matter how inspiring, eloquent, and intelligent the candidate, none of it matters at all if he loses in the election. I think we sometimes forget that.