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I think people go along with party lines due to intellectual laziness.
Politicians realize that most of us are intellecutally lazy and prey upon this to further their agendas. It's easy to believe someone with whom we already agree. It takes effort to research a topic and make an informed decision based not upon party dogma but upon sound evidence.
For example, I am a public school teacher who was adamantly against school choice (read: vouchers)...that is, until I researched it and spent some time thinking about it. My opinion has since changed.
Either way, I often see what are nothing more than talking points and sound bites used in place of actual dialogue when discussing political issues. We become rigid in our defense of these talking points because we make them our own, regardless of how little thought-out they are. When these are attacked, we feel it personally.
Now, granted, this is not true of everyone, but it is true of enough of us that politicians use it to their advantage to great success.
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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses
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