What's good about a two party system? It generates two watchdogs with different targets!

Conservative folk complain about liberal bias in the media ad nausea. I married into a conservative family, walk with conservative neighbors in my conservative county and interact with my husband's co-workers in his conservative industry.

I feel sick to my stomach more often than I can say.

I am a liberal-leaning independent roiling in a conservative sea. My arguments need to be super-humanly accurate for me to consider rocking the boat regarding most anything I value. I value what is basic to life; health and its counterpart, a clean environment. As I recently wrote Senator Udall, health is my the bottom line.

For personal survival, I determined to adjust my television viewing and radio listening, focusing on shows that shared what was true most often.

Fox News was out, as top down, they are a commercial for conservative politics- I haven't been able to bear them since "weapons of mass destruction" were about to be revealed in breaking news as reported daily during the Bush Wars.

I knew The Colbert Report and Jon Stewart were liberal-leaning comedic news reports, though I read a report that many comedians got it right when more serious news folk did not.

I trusted the PBS News Hour for steady handed reporting- especially Fridays with Shields and Brooks.

And indepth news reporting found on public radio fascinated me, with their willingness to go deep into what was happening around the world rather than dump one line sound bites, subject to interpretation.

For the most part, however, I liked researching my news online, where I could read opinions from all points of view and often read opinions from folk who had experienced an event.

I discovered an amazing point of view in my search for truth in broadcasting, named Jack Shafer. He transformed my thinking, in fact, with this brilliant observation defining what is good about a two Party system...

"...liberals are better at sniffing out corporate corruption and national security shenanigans and conservatives better at blowing the whistle on waste and overreach by governments."

Why do I consider this brilliant beyond fish and hooks and turmoil at sea?

It opens up a rarely voiced conversation about what is RIGHT about a two party political system. Why failing to respect the point of view of the "other" strands all of us on desert islands when we could be paddling both sides of the canoe.

Our Forefathers (who have become popular gurus in political attacks) formed a system encouraging more than one opinion because they understood how important it was for the nation as a whole to work together in order to survive together; Jefferson and Hamilton were at odds and yet merged to form a nation with common cause.

Conservatives watchdog government waste. We have all witnessed an inordinate amount of paper work or repetition or incompetency in action at places as mundane as Motor Vehicle.

Liberals watchdog private banks and other business pursuits. Often their hands have been tied in this pursuit of corporate regulation, as witnessed by our Wall Street disability.

We need watchdog groups to maintain a functioning society. We need environmentalists to protect oxygen so that energy interests can breathe. We need energy groups to provide environmentalists with gasoline to check pollution caps- until energy groups transition to clean energy, which is in our best interests from a security and health perspective.

I don't know why conservatives hate liberals. Or why liberals hate conservatives. It's mom versus dad; life versus destruction. Both points of view have their place. Together, we can accomplish great things.

Why not challenge commentators like Rush Limbaugh to do the job of creating a more effective government versus stir up hate among half the populace? Why not encourage Colbert to point out the injustices inflicted by business, with poignant humor that inspires action?

Rather than attack each other with all guns firing, what divides us can make us stronger.

Instead of attacking media bias, why not shape legislation that requires networks to state openly where they are coming from? Or publish all political contributions in an easily accessed report?

Oh, wait. Such a report does exist. In 1988, employees of news networks together contributed $1 million to Democratic candidates. The Fox News Corporation, a holding company for Rupert Murdoch 's News Limited contributed the same amount of $1 million to Republican governors.

Interesting, Rupert Murdoch's empire is second to the BBC. Perhaps this is why National Public Radio broadcasts news from the BBC and not Fox, enabling Americans to receive a second opinion?

Hmm. I wonder who has more power over breaking news? The individual reporter who wishes to keep his job or the News Corp guru who has the power to hire and fire?