I was talking to a Polish friend about Polish politics. He said in Poland, like in the US, they had both conservative and liberal parties - but that the topics for debate were different. In Poland, the conservatives agreed with the liberals on things like healthcare funding, supporting higher education, and funding transit projects. All these things were non-issues in Polish politics.
"Well," says I, "Then I'm confused. If the conservatives and liberals agree on all those things, then what makes them different? What makes the conservatives, conservative?"
"Ah, you see," he says, "They're racist. That's the whole thing - they're just racist."