Some of the people here are mainly into politics as a sport. All they care about is there side winning, without regard to the kind of gvt they end up with.
Others seem to care mainly about particular social issues (abortion, gay amrriage), but don't otherwise care about the size or scope of gvt.
You've struck gold with those observations whether you realize it or not.
You've accurately painted a picture of the two 800-lb gorrilla political parties, and, what differentiates them.
The Democrats excel at "coalition-building". They are damn good at it. They target disparate "disenfranchised" groups (ever so discretely ENSURING that the groups OBSESS on their "disenfrancisemen", and, reinforcing it so that it becomes a steady-state condition).
And, they DELIVER for their coaltion.
The Republicans, on the other hand, go after the "football fan" part of the brain. They stir up THEIR "followers" using the same "Yay, team!" groupthink that consistently delivers billions of dollars to the sports industry.
Any "promises" THEY make are vague, with the only REAL "promise" being "victory" -- IF "the team" will "hold together" NO MATTER WHAT.
Thus, for the Democrats, it's a quid pro quo in terms of "you vote us into power, and we'll deliver you the goods". And for the Republicans, the quid pro quo is "if you remain LOYAL to the TEAM, we will march ahead to VICTORY!"
Two entirely different mindsets. Both are disgusting, base, vile, and dehumanizing. Only ONE of them has any REAL payoff, though -- despicable as it may be.
Because the GOP is VERY weak in the coalition-building department, it will never go beyond offering vague, halfhearted "promises" (generally "promises" to TRY, rather than to DELIVER), and, when there is dissention among the ranks (over the FAILURE to deliver), the "ranks" are demonized, ridiculed, attacked, and accused of infidelity, in that the ONE thing that DOES "matter" (in the GOP brand of groupthink) -- "team loyalty" -- is challenged BY any efforts to "hold their feet to the fire."
Sorry, I don't see any happy ending to this story.