Preach!
I participate in lots of political discussions, and the biggest difference between an in-person conversation versus one on, say, Twitter is that people on the Internet are quick to retreat to talking points without really answering any questions or even directly participating in the conversation.
Even in person, too many people these days are quick to shout someone down, but if that person calmly engages them and asks them to explain their point of view, they clam up. I saw this happen at a Deerhunter concert a couple days ago: someone in the audience yelled "🤬 you!" so the singer came down off the stage and attempted to understand where their anger was coming from, but all the person could say was "You have to do your own research." ("Research on what?" is the question to which the band never received an answer.)
As an "anti-partisan" Independent, I've recently made a point of trying to define what "my platform" is, spending a fair amount of time answering the types of questions you've posed. I think if all Americans were to think through what is truly important to them, we would all find that we have far more in common than our current, divided political environment would have it appear.

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