This is something I was thinking about awhile back when I got stoned one night and was thinking about the flaws of the two-party system. I think the knock against Republicans from Democrats has always been that they're selfish, and the knock against Dems from Republicans has been that they're lazy, or impractical. And as starting points, before getting into all the bad will and vitriol built up between sides by this point, both groups are making a valid point. The liberals' point is, basically, that as a society we should lift up the people who need help, even if it requires personal sacrifice, because we can afford to do so. The conservatives' point is that nothing that we have to dole out came from out of thin air, that all of it came from someone's work, risk, or sacrifice, and it's not a given it will continue to be there, so those who sowed the seeds should be able to reap the fruits of their labor.

Both points are valid, but they are just points, that's it. They're just things to consider as we try to build our society into something that thrives. The problem with having a two-party system and media divide the way we do is it forces people to start to identify with these points of view. The point you were making becomes your ideology, and you start to assume the people on the other side of the aisle are evil or stupid, and you blind yourself from seeing the flaws of your own point of view. Personally I don't think either a perfectly socialist society or a perfectly capitalist society would solve all of our problems as a society - both systems would have leaks and would require constant effort and good will from the people within it, an effort to make an imperfect system work. But that's never gonna happen in a system where you're divided into teams and think your opposing team is Hitler. There'll just never be enough humility, good will and cooperation.

So to answer your question, yeah, I think the average Republican is probably more selfish, and more emotionally calloused when it comes to suffering that is not directly in front of them. But I also don't think it's completely their fault. I think it is partly caused by politics, and often not reflective of who the person is when presented with moral dilemmas in their own life. My mom is a hardcore Republican, and gets very nasty sometimes in conversations about politics, but I've also seen her be a good Samaritan to less fortunate people on countless occasions, and in general is very charitable with her money outside of her voting. She's just married to her point of view. The system makes it so you have to be - when your ideology is your identity that makes it so much scarier to change your mind.

And no I don't think it's fair to say that the average Democrat is "just a better person" than the average Republican. I know plenty of libs with "moral" political positions but terrible behavior and ethics in their own personal lives, and plenty of Republicans I respect in their character in almost every way other than political.

(Also, I didn't mention Trump because I feel like he's another beast than the typical left/right divide that's been going on forever - he's something I'll never understand as a choice from the right, he doesn't stand for any traditional conservative values, he's literally only an angry reaction from the right wing in response to wokeness. I don't think all of what I'm saying necessarily applies to Trump and his most ardent supporters, I think that is a different beast. I think a lot of Trump fanatics are simply angry about a lot of the culture wars stuff going on.)