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If some values (e.g. abortion rights) are more important than others (e.g. constitutional rights), then the supporters of the important values should be willing

If some values (e.g. abortion rights) are more important than others (e.g. constitutional rights), then the supporters of the important values should be willing to compromise their positions on the less important ones in order to build common ground. You can't force other people to find your values important. You can't twist human psychology so that 'empathy' constantly will overrule self-gain. What you can do is compromise. If the democratic party were pro-guns, pro-rural development, and also pro-abortion then you'd be surprised to find how many people would stand with them.

sedachv 10y ago
> What you can do is compromise. If the democratic party were... Unfortunately this is the core of the issue. That first sentence should really read "What the democratic party can do is compromise" for the second sentence to follow. As a voter in the United States you are personally forced to compromise. In order to choose the lesser of two evils you need a developed sense of empathy and morality, and based on the comments in the original article many people seem to be missing this. Reform of the democratic/republican parties (someone as compromised and mentally unstable as Trump being elected is a serious republican issue) is an entirely different organizational problem that can only be done by party insiders.