The Party of Rage

Why are so called conservatives so angry all the time? I admit that I get angry from time to time, but they seem to be angry forever. You just can't have an interesting reasonable political discussion with them. I enjoy debate, that's why I was a varsity debater in high school. I say to everyone, relax, have a fun debate, you make your points, I make mine. No one's judging and awarding a trophy. Cool.
From a specific conversation: I call everyone who disagrees with me a racist? You sound like a recording of Fox News and or Rush Limbaugh. What does racism have to do with gun control? You are sounding desperate. I state facts so you accuse me of using racism, which I never mentioned. You brought it up, not me. Is your only way to defend your position reduced to making false accusations?
I should stop watching so much MSNBC? When did I start watching only MSNBC? Have you forgotten what I've always done? I don't let anyone do my thinking for me.
Let's get the facts straight. I watch one, that is one, program on MSNBC. I rarely watch the entire show. I watch only the segments that have the guests who interest me. And I have to say that Chris Matthews, who played Nerfball during the Bush years, has graduated through wiffleball up to softball. Maybe someday he will will play hardball. I haven't noticed him doing it yet.
I am still informed by CSPAN most of all, spending more hours watching all three of its channels more than any others, but also by MSNBC, Comedy Central, Science News and similar magazines, BBC News, Al Jazeera news, Democracy Now, KNX radio, Charlie Rose, independent documentaries, well, the list gets a little long, but don't forget, yes, FOXNews. I rarely agree with them. But that doesn't mean I refuse to listen to them.
(I like to keep an eye on the enemy -- you're supposed to laugh, it's a joke.)
I also spend a lot of time looking into the theory of politics. Currently I'm reading On Politics by Alan Ryan which covers the subject from Plato to today, The Origins of Political Order by Fukuyama, which goes further back, selections by Hayek and Keynes...Yeah, I'm an intellectual geek. Always was and always will be.
I spend most of my day browsing news, politics and economics from many sources, rarely MSNBC. I do hear Fox often attacking MSNBC, but not my other sources, except for Al Jazeera, and they only hate them because they fear Muslims. Let's be honest, people who watch only FOXNews and their fellow travelers, such as a certain self styled Federalist group, love to accuse other people of watching only MSNBC and it's fellow travelers. Maybe it's true for some people. I wouldn't know.
Let's face it, if MSNBC and I agree, I regarded that as MSNBC agreeing with me!
I used to have to ask self identified conservatives what they believed on any given subject. Now I don't have to ask. They believe whatever they just saw on Fox news. There are people to whom I find myself saying, "Those people you used to grumble about, the ones you said drove you out of the Republican Party with their extremism... Well, you sound just like them now."
My advice to all of them? Stop being so concerned with the mote in your neighbor's eye and start looking at the great beam in your own.