How can we stop the fighting?
One of the fundamental differences I've seen between liberals and conservatives is that liberals look at the exterior and conservatives look at the interior.
What does that mean?
When it comes to the cause of human suffering both sides actually do admit that it is a problem, and an area that the government needs to address. So that is good!
But they take different approaches, which should be fine. Let me explain:
If an individual is suffering, the typical liberal will tend to blame external social institutions (if you are poor it is because you are oppressed by society-which is true for many but not all people), whereas the typical conservative tends to blame internal factors (you are poor because you are lazy-which is actually true for many but not all people, lets be honest. And it's not about a certain type of people, it is seen everywhere).
Thus, the typical liberal recommends exterior social interventions: redistribute the wealth, change social institutions so they can produce a fairer outcome, evenly slice the economic pie, aim for equality among all.
And the typical conservative recommends that we instill family values, demand that individuals assume more responsibility for themselves, tighten up slack moral standards, encourage a work ethic, reward achievement, and so on.
But BOTH are correct!
So why do we fight so much if we are both correct?
Why do we hang our identity on being 100% right and winning the argument rather than finding a solution?
Why do we allow ourselves to just go around in circles? And more importantly, how can we fix this?