Political beliefs are for the most part not practical beliefs that result from empirical analysis of one’s own experience; rather, they are myths that explain the mostly inexplicable. They are often similar to religious myths in function, perhaps though in a different sphere of influence.
They answer difficult questions like: Why is my life so shitty?, Who are my enemies?, and Why isn't the world structured more to my liking? One finds oneself with one’s predilections, one usually selects one’s social milieu on that basis, and within that milieu it is very easy to weave and sustain a mythology about the political workings of the world that validates those predilections. For most people, that is the very point of the exercise.
Writing in the comments section of "Tendentious dichotomies redux" of the blog Crooked Timber on July 24, 2003.