I think that if you have bothered to read most of my postings here, you realize that I am a liberal on most things. Still, I am not one of those people so filled with liberal zeal I feel I need to crush any and all conservatives. Call me crazy, but I think if everyone thought exactly the same thing, that would be a really bad thing. Therefore, I truly believe liberals need to have conservative voices because I believe there should be checks and balances on things.

In theory, that’s a good system, I would think. The problem is, we are a country divided. Of course, shortly after our system of government came into existence, we became a country divided. Still, these days, we are so divided it is very much like little kids standing in the corner refusing to talk to each other. Or, maybe it’s more like those first school dances you went to when the boys stood as though plastered against one wall while the girls stood as if they had been nailed to the opposite wall.

This was evident again in that ridiculous outburst between Rosie O’Donnell and Elizabeth Hasselbeck of “The View.” Dear Lord, help me, if the loudest liberal voice in this country is Rosie O’Donnell. While there may be some things she believes in that I agree with, she is still not the person I want out the espousing those beliefs. She is so sanctimonious and self-righteous. That’s the problem too many liberals have.

The problem is that no one is really listening to each other. It’s all shouting. Thanks to the multiple news channels you can watch, you can flip around to your heart’s content until you find the news presented in a way that jus re-affirms your beliefs. If you are a conservative, you probably watch Fox News. If you are liberal, you watch, well, just about anything and everything else.

I am a firm believer that between the extremes is often the answer. Extremity tends to cause very bad things. Take one look at Nazi Germany and understand how desperate times plus people with an extreme view can lead to bad things. Look at the terrorists who brought down the towers and understand how having an extreme viewpoint leads to faulty thinking. Take a look at the guy who walks into an abortion clinic and starts shooting and you get the same idea. Somewhere, in the middle, in the no-man’s land between the poles, is where the real answer lies.

I think Congress attempted to find ground there with their Immigration bill. I cannot say whether I agree with it or disagree with it. I just know that every liberal says it doesn’t do enough and then the conservatives say the same thing but they think it doesn’t do enough to punish people. No one wants to move off the wall and ask that first guy or girl for a dance.

I have a hard time believing that there are people out there who really are one hundred percent for the war in Iraq. Given what we know now, how anyone can seriously argue that this was a good idea, I am not sure. Still, even though I think the reasons we went in turned out to be false and the whole thing is a mess, I think that pulling out right now would just make things worse. We made the mess, now we have to pay the price to fix it. It completely sucks, but there you have it.

I also have a hard time believing that the administration was somehow encouraging the attacks on September 11. The memo that said “Bin Laden Determined to Attack within United States” was not titled “Bin Laden Determined to Use People to Hijack Planes with Box Cutters and Slam them Into Buildings.” I have a hard time believing that the intelligence was there that indicated men would do exactly that. I still believe that September 11 only shows that if people are determined to kill you, they will find a way to do it.

See, you can find the truth somewhere in the middle. Too many people just want to stand on their side of the fence and scream at the other side. Then they just look for the information that backs up their particular viewpoint. Then they just hurl that information at the other side while the other side does the same thing.

Somewhere in the middle is the rest of us. What do we do? There are those of us just wanting and looking to make a living. We just want to work, make some money, have a roof over our heads, food on our table and a decent life. We don’t make the policies and decisions. We don’t care whether or not gays can marry because we are confident enough in our own sexuality. We don’t worry too much about immigration.

We are the people you never heard from, of course. We are the people who still believe that this is the greatest country on the planet, but we don’t believe that makes every other country inferior to us. We believe that, while our system is the best, it can still be improved. Hey, maybe a health care system isn’t such a bad thing because other countries really do make it work.

I love the United States. I have lived here my entire life and have never been disappointed. I think what makes this country so great is that there is room for so many different people who believe so many different things. I think it’s great to live in a country that has so much freedom we can openly disagree with out leaders. I also believe that just because a person disagrees with the current administration, does not mean that they are traitors or hoping the terrorists win.

So, here’s hoping that more people try to find that middle ground. Somewhere in there, maybe, just maybe, is the answer to all of those problems.

Bryan W. Alaspa’s novel Dust is available at his website www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com. He now has two short stories available for download at www.amazon.com.