This is one of the big pitfalls of the two party system in the US. If you fall in the middle, you don’t have an obvious choice of party, or you have a few issues where your party of choice doesn’t represent you.
An example- in Oregon you’ll find many people who are generally very liberal, socially progressive and such, but who don’t support blanket gun restrictions due to the traditions of hunting, trapping and outdoorsy stuff that Northwesterners are into. In a parliamentary democracy, you may have been able to find the “smoke pot and have a hunting rifle” party, but in our model, you have to pick one or the other.
(Be kind, not trying to start a flame war) I keep seeing this thrown around, what is a “tankie” and what’s it got to do with that Lemmy instance?