The US constitution surprised the world again when it challenged the idea that citizens could rule themselves without the aid of a wise king.
True conservatism deals with fiscal responsibility and the virtue of earning a lifestyle reward for your ECONOMIC contribution to society.
True liberalism deals with civil integrity and the virtue of earning a moral reward for your SOCIAL contribution to a civilization.
Too much of one of the other is detrimental to a civilization, but a balance of both changes the world. One side leads to laziness and a decrease in productivity, and the other leads to financial corruption (The first reason for the fall of all true democracies) and lack of proper civil representation (The second reason for the fall of all true democracies).
We've lost that balance here in the US entirely and it saddens me. Each side of the above thinks we've gone too much to one side and the reality is that we've drifted apart too much.
I don't claim to know how to fix this, but that is my unfortunate conclusion as to how we've managed to get ourselves into this mess, or how someone or a group of people purposefully put us into this mess for their gain.
My hopes are that we can once again partake in intellectual debate, without shaming one another, and find that middle ground that is so necessary to our livelihoods.