[xolox]

I don't mean to come off as ignorant (so please correct me if I am wrong) but could it be that the so-called "two-party system" in the US is to blame for some of the polarization implied in your message?

As someone living in the Netherlands and being used to dozens of political parties with various ideologies and convictions, the two-party system of the US has always surprised me as being extremely limiting (e.g. if you don't naturally identify with Democratic ideologies you vote Republican or vice versa).

Edit: None of this is to imply that Western Europe or the Netherlands doesn't have major political issues, for example I'm quite disillusioned about the uptick in popularity of populist political parties (throughout Western Europe but also specifically in the Netherlands).

[lazide]

It certainly doesn’t help! The underlying culture war tension (IMO) is growing out of city vs rural politics and economic issues, and the two party system naturally lends itself to splitting along those lines.

And having two parties means it’s easy to play us vs them on topics.

Almost anything can be ‘maximally polarized’ into exactly two poles with enough work though - including immigration, male/female issues, business policies, import/export policies, foreign policies (isolationist vs interventionist), etc.

Populism in general is being driven by the same factors everywhere IMO, and many of them are macroeconomic.