In reality I think there is a lot of daylight between the parties on social issues that do not affect current power structures.

Abortion, trans rights, women's rights, gay marriage, religion in public schools, etc: Tons of difference.

Funding genocide, subsidising the fossil fuel industry, maintaining a for-profit healthcare system, opposing ranked choice or instant run-off voting, keeping third parties out, refusing to enforce anti-trust law, refusing to raise the minimum wage, no accountability for police brutality, etc: Broad bipartisan support.

QED.

Or

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSaFnDH...

What choices we have.

Replace the Israeli flag with the US one when we invade someone else again.

I think there's simply a difference between funds going towards foreign policy, and ones that basically deny you autonomy. America is highly individualistic, but that's also just human nature. Many will care more about their groceries increasing by $10 a month than a billion dollars going towards a war somewhere else.

Also helps that America hasn't experienced a war on its soil in almost 80 years now. Or technically 200 years since I don't think Hawaii was ratified yet. The idea barely registers as possible to happen.

Both parties are worse than the other on the issues they promise to be better on.

It's almost like it's a big club that you're not a member of.

Both these ignore a lot of context. Carter had to do something about stagflation. Deregulation that promotes competition and appointing Volkner to the Fed aren't directly eroding worker's rights like Reagan's solution of union busting. Reagan signed the machine gun ban as part of an amendment to pass the Firearms Owners' Protection Act that was endorsed by the NRA.

> It's almost like it's a big club that you're not a member of.

Agreed, but not in the way that you're thinking of. The "big club" is capable of understanding nuance and making dispassionate decisions (or at least their can hire people who can do that on their behalf). Regular voters react to emotional sound bites and outsource their critical thinking to those in the "big club" who superficially align with their worldview.

People forget this, Reagan literally started the charter and expectations for the modern gun control movement just because of Black Panther advancements and protests in the street with firearms.