Contrary to popular belief, liberalism is not a disease.

I know what you're thinking: "Oh God, another liberal. And he's a college student, well I'll be damned." But really, I think I can put a word or two in there that's different. Or at least spelled correctly.

Let us examine my favorite example of partisan desperation: Ann Coulter. I shall posit that the majority of Ann's readership consists of educated, upperclass white people who posess a level of sophistication that is not exclusive to that group but that is not regularly found in the general population; after all, who really reads books these days? I shall also posit that a majority of this audience reads Ann Coulter for a certain degree of entertainment not found in other serious works of political science. Michael Moore and Al Franken also fall into this category. This degree of entertainment is evident in her work, but somehow Ann has been led by her publisher to believe that her books are bestselling because her audience prescribes to her ideas and arguments rather than because of its raw entertainment value.

Because, really, are people really supposed to buy into her assertion that "Liberals have a preternatural gift for striking a position on the side of treason"? TREASON? Do all republicans who buy her book really believe that liberals hate their country and are decidedly "Anti-American"? I don't care what anyone says, but I do not hate my country. Ann has a gift for hyperbole; she is also a gifted lawyer, and thus adept at forging an argument out of almost nothing: the New York Times is a pawn of the evil left; McCarhtyism is a myth created by the Satan-liberals to scare the poor common-folk into joining the dark side.

Please. I appreciate the passion of her idealism, and the creativity of her thinking. But partisan politics is really not about the "dark side" and the "good side." And just because people buy your book does not mean that this country is finally coming to its senses and becoming republican. People can have different beliefs, but that does not translate into a dichotomy of good and evil.

So all you people out there (Sean Hannity?), before you gloat about the conservatives taking over the country, just remember this: respect the differences in people, whether in skin color, religion, or (gasp) political beliefs.