> I might argue that the real problem we're facing is we continue to perpetuate the idea that the totality of issues facing a nation of 330 million people can be lumped into "republican" or "democrat" and this binary view of the world invariably fosters extremism.
I agree broadly. The two-party system is emergent phenomena due to our first-past-the-post voting system wherein whichever candidate for nearly any given election receives 50% of votes cast +1 additional vote wins the election, as opposed to a system which apportions seats in a cabinet proportionally according to the percentage of votes cast for a particular party out of total votes cast. It is my belief based on cursory study that this method of voting in USA was known to have this failure mode, but alternative methods of counting votes would be difficult to calculate as well as win support of the early colonies which ultimately became party to the Union.
The two-party system benefits both parties equally, to our collective detriment, as it has the knock-on effect of causing both parties to become increasingly pandering to their extremes, while representing poorly those at the extremes as well as their mean.
Ranked choice or other alternative apportionment schemes would allow voters to vote their conscience and would ultimately lead to better outcomes, as well as allowing third parties to have a reasonable likelihood of actually being elected. This would also force the extant parties to actually form coalitions based on issues and points of agreement, as well as enhance cooperation among the parties across the aisle, as opposed to down-the-line votes which lead to obstructionism and filibusters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-past-the-post_voting
> But when we try to force people into binary solutions it's either "the people for socialized medicine" or "the people against socialized medicine" and that's a guaranteed downward spiral.
The blessed/cursed wedge issue. As they say in politics, never let a good crisis go to waste. Wedge issues are the ultimate Gordian knot of political hot potatoes, as they aren't meant to ever be solved in a two party system, as then they would be rendered ineffective as wedge issues, as the issue would be settled law, and could no longer be used to dodge or deflect. Much of current culture war disagreements fall under wedge issues broadly, but this is not a new development in politicking or jurisprudence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedge_issue
When you look at these issues as part of a larger whole, the two party system benefits immensely from the first-past-the-post system; similarly, wedge issues are designed to force voters and elected officials to pick a side on nuanced issues that may not have only two possible legislative outcomes desired by the public.
From the point of view of the two dominant parties, it's literally notabug/wontfix.