Ridiculous-

I know there have been many editorials on this, but I thought I’d throw in my thoughts…

The conservative wing of the political spectrum is dying. For better or for worse, mainstream Americans are seeing the political right for what it is…the obnoxious side of the political spectrum.

The nation is currently going through a ‘situation’ that perfectly demonstrates what I mean. Conservatives are up-in-arms about the President’s upcoming speech to America’s children that will encourage them to stay in school. For the life of me, I have no idea why anyone would oppose this.

I hope it’s not because they believe a stay in school message is unwarranted. I hope it’s not because they feel President Obama is ‘campaigning’. I hope it’s not because they feel this sort of presidential speech is illegal. I hope it’s not because they are afraid of a minority role model.

But, I can’t help but think this uproar is a result of the extreme right loosing power. I imagine the right wing talk show hosts are afraid of loosing listeners because of Obama’s calm, sensible explanations of his ideas. More and more, this new century is producing Americans who prefer respectful discourse over intense, one-sided monologues.

So, to preserve their power the extreme right is telling people that they should fear President Obama. They are telling people that a 15 minute speech will brainwash a generation of youth into socialism. And the practitioners of the extreme right are encouraged to be loud in their opposition. The extreme right hopes this will create the illusion of solidarity, strength and power. An uproar, to hide the deterioration of the conservative movement from their followers.

The sad part is…there are reasonable people who only get their news from AM radio and they don’t realize they are dependent on the one-sided fountain called "talk radio." Some people can’t form their own opinion until they hear what Beck, Hannity or Rush have to say first and I think that’s sad.

In a sense, I’m not worried about the ideas that come from the talk radio fountain, but instead I worry about the way it’s presented. Opposing viewpoints on those shows are typically met with rudeness, interrupting and at worst, yelling. So naturally, when the listeners try to express their “own” opinions in comment rooms, blogs or talking with friends they unconsciously also adopt a subtle disrespectful ‘take no prisoners’ attitude.

As I see it, this is one reason why the conservative movement is going down…and going down fast. From my perspective, our nation is moving into an era where ranting and raving won’t get anyone anywhere and unless they can re-introduce an atmosphere of civility into their discourse the conservative movement is dead.

And that’s what I have to say about that.