Cold Turkey

A little over 2 weeks ago, I quit cold turkey on listening to Rush Limbaugh, or any conservative talk  radio.  Don't mistake this action.  I am still a staunch conservative thinker and a Rush Limbaugh fan, however, I found that I could not listen to Rush without 1) Getting Angry and 2) Thinking Ill of Democrats, and especially our President.

Why is this a problem?  Well, in taking my faith seriously, I've been hit over the head with the fact that we are all God's children, and Jesus taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  That means that even Democrats are loved by God and thus should be loved by me.  I wasn't able to do that very well when listening to Rush Limbaugh, because I found myself thinking horrible things about Democrats and Barack Obama.  So, I decided to cut that out of my life for a while and see what happened.

Well, two weeks in, I can report that I'm a happier person.  I'm still staying somewhat informed by watching my local news and listening to AP radio news and reading the Internet, but I'm also staying away from the spin, as much as possible.  See, while I realize that the Republicans aren't always right, I was treating politics as a "sporting event" in which my side needed to win, even if they were wrong.  Now, don't get me wrong, I still believe my side is right 99% of the time, but by not listening to Rush, I can more easily discern that 1% of wrongness.

The other thing I've realized is that I've been able to have better relationships with the Democrats in my life.  I'm not always ready to pounce on them with the latest issue of the day in the interest of "winning."  And now, when we do talk politics, I think I might be more persuasive because I don't just sound like I'm regurgitating Rush.

So, for now I'm going to continue this experiment of keeping my life a no spin zone.  I do miss the entertainment value of Rush Limbaugh, but to be the type of person God wants me to be, I have to do without that form of entertainment at this point in my life.