Bipartisan....How???

To be honest, I don't know how to be bipartisan.  I have come from being a right-wing conservative to a left-wing democratic socialist.  I have seen the other side of the argument, and even more, I have deeply believed the other side of the argument.  This should be the moment where I say, "Believe me and what I say because I used to be that other thing!", but I can't.  I can't tell you to believe me, but I also can't tell myself to believe you.

I am the opposite of a moderate and yet believe so strongly in moderation.  I see the full-fledged benefits of listening and compromising, and yet, I can't get myself to actually be effected by what I hear or open to any true compromise.  Why?  I believe what I believe is right, and I did come through a journey to get here.  I am not going to convince you that I am right because I went through that journey, but neither do I find myself willing to believe that I will ever change.

Amidst the polarity, I find that I believe mostly in the same ideals as everyone else.  We all want people to have jobs, opportunity, good healthcare, sustainability, protection, rights, justice...etc.  Yet, we dogmatically disagree on how it should be done and, even more strikingly, on what those ideals mean in different situations.

Democrats believe that all immigrants, illegal or not, should have opportunities, jobs, good healthcare, and protection.  Republicans believe that immigrants should have those things but only if they go about it the legal way.  Democrats believe that illegal immigrants would if they could or that the circumstances of those who crossed illegally forced them to do what they did.  Republicans believe that immigrants broke the law knowingly, and that no matter what the situation, law-breaking should be punished.

Democrats believe that the queer community should have the right to marry.  Republicans believe that the rights of the heterosexual community are being denied by destroying the sanctity of marriage.....

Democrats believe that everyone should have the opportunity to healthcare and that it is the government's job to make sure that healthcare is accessible to everyone by providers and at affordable costs, or for free if needed.  Republicans believe that everyone at least deserves good healthcare....

Okay, I am going to stop here, because truth be told, halfway through writing this, I already see that I can't even accurately portray the beliefs of Republicans, because even in writing them, I am probably skewing their actual view by catering to my own ideas of what Republicans believe.

All that to say, I am not democrat.  I am democratic socialist.  Yes, I may align more strongly in this bipartisan divide with democrats, but I don't even agree with some of what they say.  Even most republicans would probably feel the same.  So, say we had 18 parties that somehow matched everyone's views.  What then?  To be honest, it sounds worse to me.  18 polarized groups of politicians must be harder than 2, right?  Unless, of course, it would force polarization to disappear because 18 different groups would have to compromise somehow, because they would never, ever, ever have the majority.

So, then, I decide that I want to throw away politics and just try to live in a way that I think is good.  Loving everyone.  Yet, how can I love the people closest to me knowing that if a certain someone or a certain party is in office their rights would now be denied?

Let me try this.

I am neither democrat nor republican.  I am not even a democratic socialist really.  I am a lover, a worker, a boyfriend, a roommate, a friend.

I do believe that all people deserve access to opportunities.  Which does make me believe that immigrants, illegal or not, should have citizenship.  Why?  They are human beings just like me.
I do believe that the queer community should have the right to marry. Why? We are human beings just like you.

I do believe that opportunity, protection, jobs, healthcare, and rights should be placed above law and tradition.  So if your law says that a man who has lived here since he was 5 and is now 25 should be forced to move back to "his country", I disagree with your law.  If your tradition says that marriage is between a man and a woman and that no other marriage is valid, I disagree with your tradition.  If your views of government make it so that billionaires have more "freedom" and "opportunity" than the low-income workers and the homeless, I disagree with your government.

This is what I believe, and I feel both deeply passionate to never change my mind and yet so guilty for being so dogmatic.  How do I listen to the both sides, when it is in first listening to both sides that I came to this conclusion?  How do I function in a democracy when I understand the logic that brought you to what you believe and also the logic of what brought me to what I believe, but I don't what to live in a place ruled by your logic?  Does this make me an antagonist of democracy?  Does it make everyone?