And I confess that I'll never get this. I generally hold the same VALUES that I held as my political identity was developing in my late childhood to early adulthood. How those values manifest may have changed, but the values remain. And that means that those values occupy spots all over the spectrum, including some close to either end. For example:
1 -- the first "advocacy group" I ever joined was Greenpeace, when I was 7-8. Because I was totally into cetaceans and was a fishing fool on the Texas coast, wanted to save the whales, and protect the oceans. I still do.
2 -- perhaps the second was the NRA when I was 9-10. Because I loved to shoot and hunt, and read every issue of Field and Stream. I liked that it gave me access to additional writing on guns, different types, shooting and hunting tips, maintenance, and safety advice.
3 -- from my earliest childhood, my friends were a hodgepodge of races and ethnicities, and I'm the product of what many people would have characterized at the time as a mixed-race marriage. It was ingrained in me from the very get-go that we should treat everyone equally, with respect, decency, and kindness.
4 -- by my adolescent years, I was exposed to enough gay people to think about them the same way I think about other races. They're folks, treat em with kindness and don't be a hurtful discriminatory dick.
5 -- I thought that many policy decisions should be made on an economic cost-benefit basis. That analysis could be complex, but if it was significantly skewed one way or the other in the "bang for your buck" standard, that should decide its fate.
6 -- I believed that military force has its place, because it is one of the tools in the toolkit of economic integration and cooperation, diplomacy, and conflict. Sometimes, you need to roll of the sleeves and fight.
Now, as a result of some of those things, I took positions on specific policies that have changed over the years: an easy example is "trickle down" economics. Based on my principles of ROI and policies that have economic benefit, I thought it was a good hypothesis. HOWEVER, multiple iterations of attempting it have shown me that they hypothesis is pure shite, and does not work. I believed X, but when the evidence demonstrated that X was not the case, I concluded that X was shite.
Likewise, I used to be opposed to same-sex "marriage." I had enough internal discomfort about homosexuality that I held onto a position that "yes, they should have all the LEGAL rights everyone else has, but you shouldn't call it 'marriage,' because that's something special reserved for men and women." Now, the more I forced myself to think about it logically, and consistently with other principles that I believed in, I realized that I was being both an asshole and a dumbass. I was wrong to oppose same sex 'marriage.'
I was more hawkish when I was younger. I was too cavalier about sending young men and women into harm's way. I still believe that force is a tool, but one that should be wielded only when all other reasonable paths have been exhausted.
I don't think that our problem is so much that Americans can't admit they have been wrong (although that's a problem). It's that they don't have any underlying guiding principles that they follow. That is demonstrated by how they reacted to January 6th, as compared to other events. If they had an underlying principle of genuine love of their country and countrymen, they would have reacted like this:
When 9/11 happened: I was horrified beyond belief in real-time. I was quick to anger against those who were attacking my country, my homeland. I was devastatingly sad about what we had lost.
When Jan 6 happened: THE EXACT SAME FUCKING SEQUENCE HAPPENED FOR ME.
Two sets of terrorists attacked foundations of my country. I reacted the same to both. That's what an actual patriot who loves this country and wants it to survive feels. But the Jan 6 apologists don't actually love this country or the people in it. They do not follow that guiding principle. They follow some sort of transitory whim. They are in the thrall of a cult built on contempt, cruelty, and directionless anger. When you follow that, and not underlying principles, you go to some pretty shitty places. Places like the halls of Congress, looking to kill the Vice President.
I hate those people. I hated the terrorists of 9/11, and those who supported and facilitated them. And I hate the terrorists and their facilitators of January 6th. You know how hard we cheered when Bin Laden was finally taken out? I will cheer that loudly when Trump and his minions are gone. You should too.