Political leanings are a consequence of basic thought style

Separated at birth?

Occasionally I try listening to left-wing talk radio when I'm driving in my car.  Left-wing talk radio is a fairly new phenomenon.  It is modeled very closely after right-wing talk radio.  It works like this:  You get a host with a loud voice to express opinions very emphatically.  During the course of this, they may have guests with concurring or opposing viewpoints on to talk with them.  They may take calls.  It doesn't really matter, since the main content of the show is a brash person shouting about things as if they're just too fired up to modulate their voice.  If the guests agree or disagree, the host behaves more or less the same way.  I don't tend to learn much from these shows.  In fact, I can't listen to them for more than a few minutes without wondering what tapes I have to listen to in my car.  Generally, within five minutes of beginning to listen to Left-wing talk radio, I start listening to the B-52s. 

I'm not impressed by expression of strong feelings about issues like public policy.  I see a lot of expression of strong feelings whenever I watch TV, so I know that somebody somewhere believes that people are impressed by that kind of thing, and they are probably right, since it's their business to know these things, but I'm not impressed by it.  If you say that drug legalization or gay marriage is going to save/destroy society, you don't get to just say that emphatically and expect me to get your back on the issue.  You have to show me what you're talking about (especially if you think it'll destroy society, seeing as how the facts aren't on your side).  If you want to emphatically state that it'd be great if we all moved and grooved at the Love Shack, particularly if you do so in verse, I've totally got your back on that.  You don't need a lot of supporting evidence to get me there.

I think that having some asshole feign outrage and forecast the apocalypse is a routine that naturally appeals to people who are inclined to be conservative.  Furthermore, I think that it's more of a turn-off to folks who are inclined to liberal viewpoints.  You can't just look at the wild success of a bunghole like Rush Limbaugh and think "If only we had one of those!"  It doesn't work very well, because of big philosophical differences between conservatives* and liberals.

You see, the conservative point of view is a very specific point of view.  You have to accept a specific set of values absolutely to play.  The set of values has mostly developed over the last several decades as an opposition to US Social programs (which is peculiar, since most conservative people seem to think the whole shebang burst fully-formed from God's skull on the sixth day), since they were annoying to the wealthy (who don't use them).  Since the ideas that comprise US conservatism are largely created for the benefit of non-human entities, ie, corporations, and non-rational belief systems, ie, religion, You wouldn't expect the conservative point of view to have much cogency.  It doesn't.  So you just have to believe it and avoid thinking about it.Consequently, people on the right march better than people on the left.

This is fundamentally different from a lot of liberal ideas, which for starters, don't come in a bundle.  This is part of why it's tough to organize left-wingers.  They don't march as well as right-wingers.  And quite possibly, they aren't motivated by the same kind of noisy stuff.  Especially when it's reactionary.  A ton of liberal talk radio is devoted to pointing out the lies of right wing media.  I hope you can appreciate how distracting that is.

You want to convince me of something? Here's how you go about it.  You explain the context as you see it and give a reasoned argument for your views.  Or if you don't have one, express your feeling and go on.  Being all loud and mad-sounding about it just makes me tune out.

Remember, the left invented PBS.       

*Conservatives are a consortium of disparate entities who agree to believe a specific set of things.  Conservative beliefs are summarized as follows:

Border security is more important than food security
Israel has an important role to play in US imperialism/Armageddon
Gun rights are more important than human rights

Free market capitalism works even when it clearly doesn't
Unbending adherence to beliefs on principle is a personality strength
Christian morality is the only morality
Kids are for everybody whether they want them or not
Incorrect notions about the founding fathers aren't
No to taxes, but yes to increasing government spending exponentially. 
God hates it when you're gay.
 
Military intervention is the work we undertake for God and country
Old-fashioned values are best, except where they seem socialist
Religion should be mandatory in public school
Observe the US constitution and interpret it our way
New world order is the only logical order
States' rights are great because corporations can bully states easier than the fed