[Jeff Higgins]

I'm starting to understand that my views of conservatism differ radically from a liberal's views of conservatism. I see conservatives as being for the lowest level of government interference in their lives that is possible. In anybody's lives. Abe Lincoln's adage that "I'm free to swing my arms as wide as I like, but that freedom stops at another man's nose" sums my views up quite well. I could care less how others lead their lives until it affects mine. Then we need to talk and work something out that is mutually agreeable.

Apparently, the liberal perspective on this is that conservatives want to force their values on an unwilling society through legislation and court action. Funny, that is precisely how I percieve liberals. Trying to cram their version of (im)morality down an unwilling public's throat with the force of law, unrelenting social activism, demonstration, and even violence at times. They are the ones who appear to me to be the less tolerant of views outside of their paradigm.

So why is this? Why do conservatives view liberals as trying to legislate morality from their end, and vice versa? Certainly that is happening in our country, but does either side enjoy the popular support to pull it off? In this day and age? I think the average Joe on either side is far closer to his counterpart on the other side than the pundits, politicians, and movers and shakers would like us to believe. The sensational radicals on both sides get all of the attention. They attempt to rally their respective troops with dire warnings of the demise of society as we know it if the other side wins. Well folks, neither side is in any danger of "winning" any time soon. They are far outnumbered by us. The guys in the middle. Just a shade left or right, but none-the-less far too central to let the yahoos on either side prevail.