One thing I have noticed about the smart-left and the smart-right is that they seem to gravitate to a core set of anchor beliefs and experiences that unify them despite being opposites politically, that you do not see with the mainstream left/right.
The mainstream left/left have no common ground it would seem, but the smart left/right share a mutual belief that the world is broken and fallen, and that politics is not the answer (or at lest only a stopgap measure), or part of the problem.
The mainstream left/right are happy to see their respective candidates win and believe strongly in the democratic process, but the smart left/right seek a deeper or greater transformation or awakening of society that cannot be realized with politics.
The smart-left and the smart-right agree democracy is broken and serves a vocal and naïve majority, but have differing objectives or idealization of what or how society should be. They both believe society and its institutions are broken. They both believe that America is in decline, which be irreversible. To
They both tend to have successful backgrounds, such as good-paying jobs and strong academic credentials, which is somewhat in conflict with their pessimism about society and the economy (if society is so broken, how did you become so successful and enjoy a nice standard of living). The Hemmingway quote “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know” definitely rings true here. But I think there are more idealistic than pessimistic.
They desire something that is better than what exists. They look at the sorry state of our leadership and think “is this the best we have…two 70-year-olds, who are locked in another era, fighting for who will lead us today?”