If I haven’t stated it before, I’ll say it now: politically, I’m a moderate. (If I have said that before, I apologize, but I’m saying it again anyway.)

How do I know I’m a moderate? Because I piss off ultra conservatives and ultra liberals pretty much equally. They all walk off mildly-to-horribly disgusted with me. I tend to be a social liberal…for example, gay marriage? Yes. Pro-choice? Yes, but not for the reasons you’d think. (I wish no one would ever want an abortion, but I don’t think that rendering it illegal will fix the problem, nor do I think that it’s possible to legislate or adjudicate it without seriously affecting the rights of the mother.  A law you can’t enforce is a bad law, by definition.)

I’m also a fiscal conservative who has made hard choices and sacrifices to achieve the little bit that I have and I resist mightily the notion that everyone is entitled to my little bit just by virtue of being alive. I believe that this country was founded on equal opportunity and will go through a lot to help establish and guarantee equal opportunity, but I don’t believe that any of us are guaranteed equal results and that it’s the ultimate insult to try to provide them.

I also read “Harrison Bergeron” and I think it’s a very real possibility at the rate we’re going. I love that line from The Incredibles where the mom tells the son, “Everyone’s special,” and he retorts, “If everyone’s special, then no one is.”

The reason this is heavy on my mind today is that Pundit Icons of both the conservative and liberal ideologies are in the news today: Rush Limbaugh and Ellen Goodman. Rush is in the news because he thought he was having a heart attack; Ellen’s in the news because today marked her last column as she begins her retirement.

What I found interesting and very disturbing is the level of vitriol aimed at both of them. With Rush, it’s a little more predictable: he makes his living being divisive. While I agree with some of the concepts he espouses, I hate his presentation. Anyone who would mock AIDS victims, no matter how they got the disease, is a jerk in my book. (I watched my beloved brother die of AIDS in 1987, and…no, just no. Anyone who listens to that without protest is also a jerk.) This is also a man who referred to Chelsea Clinton as the “White House dog.”

My very conservative husband tried to defend his antics by claiming that Rush is just going for ratings by catering to his audience, not trying to change the world. In my book, being that horrid solely for ratings is even worse.

I also understand why a staunch conservative could access a great deal of anger for Ellen Goodman. While she is not as automatically or gleefully inflammatory as Limbaugh, she is pro-choice; to a pro-lifer, that is an endorsement of infanticide. She has promoted expensive liberal policies that many feel will be a detriment to our society, not a help. With my understanding of the conservative viewpoint, I know why her views are, on their own, dry kindling and spark packaged together.

The comments on the various Limbaugh heart attack news stories were…unrepeatable. Yes, some wished him well. Others wished him hell. The Goodman resignation comments were not as blue, but no less notable for their heat. Reading both sets makes you wonder if Satan himself or Mother Teresa was in a Kauai hospital or retiring to Maine.  It makes me dizzy and a little nauseous.

The thing that’s gonna kill this country is not liberal policy making, or conservative ideology. No, the polarization between liberal and conservative is going to be the magic bullet that rips through our collective skull and heart and make us flatline. The insistence that The Other Side (who ever that is) is always  wrongwrongwrong will be our ultimate undoing.

See, I think that not only is insulting to assume that The Other Guy is an idiot, I think it’s wrong. I think it’s dangerous to think that. I think we miss a lot of good things when we assume that We’re always right and They’re always wrong.

There’s a decent chance that you’re reading this and you can feel your blood pressue rising at this very her minute. You’re thinking, “OMG how can she be writing that? I have proof how wrong The Other Side is and how wrong she is and I’m gonna write that down right now” and you’re just itching to tell me how Rush/Ellen really *is* Satan and how Ellen/Rush really *is* Mother Teresa and what an idiot *I* am.

Knock yerself out. But do not make the mistake of thinking that my identification as a moderate means that I do not hold my moderate positions dear. Because I do. And the supposition that I am somewhat of a waffle when it comes to my views is just about the only other thing that pisses me off.