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Every discussion of American politics always seems to focus on "the base" of both parties. Mobilize these "never say die" groups of voters that will support a candidate, as Donald Trump puts it, even if they shot a man on "Fifth Avenue." So the bases of the GOP and the Democratic party need to be identified and analyzed.
Remarkably, the hardcore of supporters are alike. For the GOP you have the mentality of the "Freedom caucus," which tracks back to libertarianism as represented by Ayn Rand and F.A. Hayek. Democratic ideologues get their inspiration from the "New Left," which emphasizes individual rights and personal autonomy. This is a leftist version of libertarianism with a few twists.
Grounded in a dislike of authority and government, the ideologies drive significant numbers in both parties who loathe compromise. For the GOP, anti-government rhetoric has been a staple since the 1960s, but for Democrats it has gradually taken hold. Born from the Vietnam War and Watergate, it created a version of anti-government stances not dissimilar from the GOP.
Since the 1970s, Democrats slowly abandoned the New Deal and Great Society policies that sustained it in favor of a limited government. Influenced by environmentalism and the expansion of personal liberties, Democrats abandoned labor and became advocates of better management, not expansion of government programs. It is the party that repealed sections of the New Deal in order to appease its "fiscally conservative, socially liberal" base.
For Republicans, its membership was augmented by an infusion of Southerners who were disaffected by the Civil Rights movement in the '60s. At first they kept the "business progressivism" of their forebearers, that accepted government as a positive good. Over the years, however, they drifted slowly into the swamp of John Birch Society views that rejected government period, except when it interfered in personal sexual habits. Moreover, they somehow morphed this rather negative view with traditionalism. Now even with a Republican in the White House they reflexively say no.
The Democrats' priorities have shifted to defend these personal liberties under attack by the GOP. But in doing so the economic issues have gone to seed. Now the party defends immigration, abortion rights and LGBTQ priorities with a far greater zeal than it defends the social safety nets that protect the middle class. All these stances are worth defending, but not at the cost of the party's core economic stances.
Given the current positions of the obdurate groups, the notion of progress goes by the wayside. In a way, both play defense without moving forward. They have one thing in common -- neither position works. Cooperation has been replaced as a priority and the expansion of issues important to the few has gone to the forefront.
What has been lost in this fanatical attempt to defend individual prerogatives is to ignore individual responsibilities. Greed, not patriotism, feeds the GOP and political myopia obscures the Democrats.