politics
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We've had a two-party system for a long time without politics being this polarized, so I can't chalk it up to just that, but I acknowledge it's a factor. I am for a third+ party option and proportional representation, obviously. However, I also just think extremists of any stripe regard anyone who isn't them as extremists of another stripe and can't wrap their minds around the concept of political moderation.
One of the issue with a two-party system is that all it takes is one side to polarize the issues. Once it's polarized there's no political moderation because it devolves into "us vs them". The opposing parties must take the opposite sides on political views and the common folk are either "with us or against us". It's pretty clear with the republican voter base that even if they don't agree with the republican party (as evident from Roe vs Wade) they will still vote republican, because they have to accept the majority of the democratic base to change their vote. The two-party system is bound to extremism the moment one of the parties decides to turn to extremist, you either toe the party line or you essentially do a 180 on you political views. You can't have political moderation when one side decides to polarize issues. And that's where the benefits of proportional representation come to light, because one party can't just radicalize the entire political system. If one political party turns too extremist for your views you can find (or create) adjacent parties to support.