I wish the ends could meet in the middle

I am so tired of Conservative versus Liberal. Our country is being torn down the middle and both ends want you to live according to their standards. Neither end is interested in "live and let live," and I'm sick and tired of it.

Unfortunately, my wish for both ends to meet in the middle could make things worse. This is not a lineal situation, though it sounds like it is. Liberals and Conservatives are not on the left and right ends of a straight line, but rather on opposite sides of a circle. Consequently, to "meet in the middle" they could travel across the top of the circle to meet at the north end, or across the bottom to meet at the south end. North and south are not the same.

At one meeting point on the circle the worst of both extremes are reinforced, with government becoming more and more totalitarian. The government controls, or attempts to control, everything, including personal behavior. This accommodates the Conservatives tendency to regulate personal behavior - drug use, sexual practices, religious practices, etc. - and the Liberals tendency to want the government to be in charge of redistributing wealth and providing everything for everyone, with attendant confiscatory tax polcy. This is not the middle I wish for.

Instead, I wish for the freedom-loving aspects of both extremes to go the other direction and meet where personal freedoms are valued most highly. The Liberals can happily accept freedom of speech and freedom of (and from) religion and leave personal behavior up to the individual as long as it doesn't violate anyone else's freedoms. Conservatives can rejoice in the freedom of the market and lack of government regulation that stifles the marketplace, as well as lower taxes made possible by the reduction in government.

Why do I fear that we are heading to the wrong side of that circle?