A thought
Pulling out of a friendship over differing political philosophies (as opposed to practices*) is like pulling out of a friendship because someone’s been yelling a different chant at the television during a football game, and you blame them for the failure of the magic.
* Now, there is some borderline stuff in here, but I mainly mean the difference between a belief about something one is not in charge of, and a belief about something one is in charge of. Mostly, the people I know are spectators. This even includes people who organize at a grassroots level at this point, unfortunately. (If I had reason to believe otherwise, I’d be a grassroots organizer.)
The country didn’t go down the tubes because the socialist types or the libertarian types didn’t yell loudly enough at their teevees, or went to the wrong rallies, or didn’t knock on enough doors and put out enough fliers.** Inter-microgroup political bickering is much the same as ingroup political bickering — because one cannot actually touch any real “enemy”, one who responds with anger grows restive and lacks useful outlets for anger and takes it out on their friends. “If we all had solidarity, we’d get somewhere” — except that many of the basic ideals are in fact held in solidarity, and no one’s getting anywhere. It’s not the lack of solidarity that ultimately thwarts change; it’s the lack of any functional plan.
**The disconnect between the actual government and the actual people who live in the country has gotten so large it makes traditional feudalism look more sane — but that’s another rant for another day, right?