Conservative and Liberal no longer mean Conservative and Liberal.
They have morphed into a faction that loves authority and militant enforcement of law with no accountability and a contempt for facts that empower the citizens because it cuts their profit margins.
The other faction advocates for human rights and general well being over profits and accountability within the organs of government, with regulations to keep things in control.
There is no purpose served in the first faction that helps us.
We would be better off if they were dis-empowered before they kill us.

@Diagoras I disagree. Any person achieving absolute power would. If America's democratic party consistently won elections because the GOP was so corrupt and terrible (but the electorate wasn't as terrible as it is) there would still be competition in the primary. The Democratic primary would, in essence, become the general and there would still be avid, valuable competition.

@JeffMurray I agree, the Democratic party is like five parties. The polar opposite of a fascist isn't a Progressive with just as many delusions about reality as the Republicans clearly suffer from. I know those people exist but I don't see them getting far, like Marianne Williamson, just loony toons. Good heart good enthusiasm but kind of locked into a different reality, which is why we love her but didn't let her represent us.
Meanwhile Trumps eating shit and barking at the moon crazy and the Republicans have formed a protective ring around him and provided cover for a list of crimes that would be an exhausting read.
He's trying to get away with crime by committing more crime than we can keep up with.

@JeffMurray you might be right since we have a very divided Democratic party.

@Paul4747 As much as I hope you're right, I am almost certain you are not. We already see Democrats calling Trump out for treason or "flirting with treason" as one of the mainstream presidential candidates said. The difference, however, is that I don't know I'd call that rhetoric instead of factual observation. If a store owner and a shop lifter both call each other a thief, those aren't equally valid or invalid statements. But in no world do I see Republicans collectively growing a conscience, reversing course, and starting to play fair.

@JeffMurray I agree that the rhetoric has been very heated on both sides. But there is a qualitative as well as quantitative difference. Trump has labeled Democrats, bureaucrats, whistleblowers, and even the press guilty of treason simply for fulfilling their roles as they're meant to do. In many cases he's called people traitors for not being loyal to him personally. Anyone who criticizes him is liable to be called a traitor these days. He has even called the investigation into some of his campaign dealings "treason", although, #1, a member of his campaign dealing with foreign parties would be illegal, and #2, he was not the sitting president at the time, so who was it treason against? By his definition (government acts against a presidential candidate), he himself commited treason by having Giuliani go to Ukraine and try to investigate Biden.

Because you need two parties that share a common set of values; a respect for the rule of law, acceptance of the right to disagree, an understanding that disagreeing on issues does not mean one is an "enemy" or worse, a "traitor".

The modern breakdown of intraparty respect began in 1990 with Newt Gingrich, who regularly questioned the patriotism of Democrats, called them corrupt, compared them to fascists, and accused them of wanting to destroy the United States. He was the one who put out a guidebook for Republicans telling them to use words such as “betray, bizarre, greed, lie, pathetic, radical, sick, steal, and traitors” about their opponents. Donald Trump's tweetstorms are merely the logical extension of this trend.

As long as Republicans talk about Democrats as a threat to the nation, rather than simply political rivals, we won't have a healthy body politic; and the Democratic party can't stay immune to this for much longer. Another decade and the two parties' rhetoric will be indistinguishable. That's why I hope this election is a true shock to the system for the Republicans; I hope almost beyond hope that they will start fielding candidates who see decency and competence as a path to office, instead of below-the-belt politics.