The political theater is getting increasingly tattered, though ever more strident.

The reality is that we as a culture, liberal and conservative, have been living on debt drawn from the future and the future is arriving and since neither side is willing to accept that, they blame each other.

America is humanity washing up against the global petri dish and while the old world had evolved cultures to deal with limits, we have a consumer culture where every want and desire is magnifed and glorified, to sell some product, service, political movement, etc. The wealthy and powerful are only riding the crest of this wave, not what actually drives it.

The problem is that we are absolutists. More is always better. A little bad is all bad. There is no nuance on either side. The extremes on both sides mirror each other.

Life is a bitch, but predators don't go and kill the whole herd. People, on the other hand, want everything. There is no moderation, or feedback. We don't ride the waves up and down, we find the highest cliffs and march off them.

Our intelligence still serves our base instincts, but it just magnifies them. Both sides are reverting to the rawest tribalism, the further they pull apart.

The fact remains every coin has two sides. Those seeking transcendence and those seeking order can't live without the other, no matter what their various Gods and voices tell them.

Though every few generations, the same lessons have to be learned again.

Personally I've seen enough Pied Pipers...

Yes, the conservatives do have their dayglo messiah, but conservatism is about focus on the center. Liberals, naturally being more diverse and heterogeneous, need their sheep dogs and thought police, of political correctness and cancel culture, to keep them in line.

Niether are allowed to think outside their boxes.