partisans

I fail to understand them. It seems weird to me that people identify themselves as a group, say Democrats or Republicans, and then defend to death the policies of the person leading the group at any particular time. It becomes silly when what they are now defending is 180 degrees different to what was being defended say 6 months ago.
I think that political parties are essential and it is also important that they stand for a set of ideas or policies which relate to each other and that people can vote for and feel identified with. It is also important to defend these policies from excessive politicking or scoring points from the opposition since the government needs to be strong enough to carry out the policies for which they were elected.
But excessive partisanship is a problem that stops societies from moving forward or pursuing good policies. Everything is opposed to not on merit but simply because it is proposed from the opposite party.
Likewise, absurd policies are supported because they stem from the person presiding your party (and the country) and allows destructive policies to be carried out. I always find it perplexing that you sometimes see intelligent people defending policies or actions with total conviction, seemingly unaware that they were defending the opposite a year ago.
Anyway, all this banter to express that partisanship is a shackle that keeps us from freely using our minds and evaluating policies on their merit. It is also used by the elites to keep power regardless of how well they do and it absurdly devides people along lines which are mostly imaginary.