Giving Conservatism a Bad Name

What I observed from living both in Vermont and in Arkansas is that a lot of people (I won't say most) who express political opinions are sheep.  Most people ( I did day "most") who argue positions loudly and boisterously are sheep herders.  They seem to know that if they have the majority already, that by being loud about their position, they maintain their leverage.  It is not easy to have a Platonic, Socratic, dialectic political discussion in either place.

Rush Limbaugh is the worst example, in my opinion, of a sheep herder.  Why would someone take "ditto" as a compliment?

You know what is a really, really, really good program for dialectic learning, trying out of ideas?  NHPR's Socratic Exchange.  I really enjoyed a program inviting dialogue on truth and religion while driving home from Logan Airport.

While driving across Texas (from Arkansas to Mexico) I called in to a radio talk show with Bill O'Reilly.  He was lambasting the Mexican / Latino immigrants for having higher single mothers.  I called to ask wasn't it true that Latinos were more likely to be Catholic and less likely to have abortions, and that perhaps his insinuations on single motherhood had less to do with Latino morals than non-latino abortions.  He put me on the radio, then muted me with a button (I guess) and pretended I just wanted to hear him talk.  It was shockingly fake.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled out-of-the-box environmental programming...