Many years ago, in the early 2000s something occurred to me. Neither of the two major political movements in the US actually seek solutions to the issues that divide the people. At the time I thought libertarianism was really libertinism. There is a strain of that in the liberty movement but its far from the core ideal. While I don't call myself a libertarian there was a time when I did. The interesting thing was that I wasn't really "converted". It was more like I started realizing I already agreed with many of their ideals and just had no idea there was a group with which I had so much in common.
When it comes to seeking solutions not much has changed. Both parties and their masses seem to have zero interest in solutions. Only power and exercising it as they see fit. What do I mean by solutions? Well, when you and I want to go eat somewhere we have free choice. I can go to In-n-Out and you can go to McDonald's. Neither of us is forced to spend our cash on food we don't want.
Back in the day I would hear people arguing about various issues and unlike many of my peers I actually wanted to understand both sides. It became clear to me that I could see legit reasons for each side. It wasn't like math. It was largely preference. In my pre-libertarian phase I started to think that the solution when there was some government function that could not be agreed upon, maybe it should be privatized. Then each person could decided to either support it, or not support it. Seemed logical to me at the time. Honestly, it still does.
With USAID, many of the programs that have been cut are far from vital to most people's lives. In some cases the programs are things people find morally wrong. It isn't hard to find government activities that people find morally wrong. I can see no reason why these programs cannot be privately funded. If there is so much opposition to their removal surely this can be done.
It seems to me that this doesn't take a lot of mental energy. If I could come up with this as a young man working a blue collar job surely the high minded intellectuals are capable of doing the same. I am left with this conclusion. They know this and don't care. They want power. They want to tax the people. They want high positions. And for the political figures, they want conflict because that gives them power and helps them raise funds. The incentives are not aligned with solutions. They are aligned with conflict.