It's been my experience over the past 20 years, in talking politics/philosophy with a LOT of people, that conservatives are at least 500 times more willing to accept reasoned disagreement than libs are. In other words, if there's something you and I disagree on, what happens is that sometimes we discuss it, sometimes we don't, but every time we either explicitly or implicitly agree to disagree, we both celebrate the fact that we live in a country where that's possible, and we move on to the next issue.

With libs, that almost NEVER happens. I'm having trouble thinking of even one example where I gave a lib my reasoned disagreement, and he gave me reasoned disagreement back. Instead, what I get back is exactly what we've learned to expect from libs: Hostility, hatred, intolerance, insults as to my motives, etc.

Conservatives seem to have no trouble with the very Jeffersonian idea that someone can disagree with you, and he can still be a good person with good motives who simply has reached different conclusions about a specific topic. To libs, OTOH, that sentence seems to be utterly inconceivable - and I chose that word with care because that's exactly what it is, they literally CANNOT conceive of it, the concept is unable to enter their consciousness.

So my question is the obvious one: Assuming that you've observed the same thing, why do you think that happens? I know what Sowell has written about it, and I know what I think about it, but I'd really like to know what YOU think about it.

Satan has been called many things over the course of time: Father of Lies, Lord of Flies, the Ruler of this world, the Prince and Power of the Air, etc.

What he really is, though - besides a master of deception - is the ultimate hatemonger. Satan hates God, and all of his creations as well, and wants to see them all destroyed. And he is an expert at using his powers of influence to get the unwary to do just that - destroy God's creations...all people in general, and the Christians he despises in particular. And liberals who simply don't know any better are easily swayed to hatred by this old serpent, not really having any moral foundation against which to steel themselves. [...]

Thus (and here's where I come back around to the main point), when liberals look at Christians (and conservatives who generally line up with them), they see what Satan sees when he looks at Christ - the enemy. An enemy to be hated, despised, screamed at, spit on, bitch-slapped...you name it. Anything Satan can do to destroy Christians and the things in which they believe (as well as the other, non-Christian conservatives who generally agree with them), he'll do. That's why most of the time, libs and conservatives can't get along.