MOST POLITICAL DISCUSSION nowadays moves in ruts the discussants don't even seem to be aware of. They talk about rights, freedom, the Constitution, foreign policy, the budget, all sorts of disparate things they never seem to get in focus.
It may help if we step back from politics a bit.
The main political line of division in the United States is between people we call liberals and people we call conservatives. The debate between them has been described in various ways; I ...