Liberals and conservatives actually share a shocking number of moral values. Personal liberty, the importance of family, contributing to one's community, the importance of education, freedom of expression, work ethic, the need for the country to defend itself, the need for the country to create positive change in the world.

Where they differ is on how they define these virtues, and what they think the government's role should be in promoting them.

I agree that college tends to be a hostile environment for conservatives. I think it's a product of the age group and pack mentality. I think the role of professors and the universities themselves is overstated. That there are liberals who are intolerant of conservatives is not news or insight. The question is whether their hypocrisy invalidates the concept of tolerance. I don't think it does, any more than a Congressman who preaches fidelity invalidates that concept by being caught cheating.

I also agree that liberals tend to be more relativist. Human history shows us that right and wrong have depended enormously on culture and context, and have evolved over time. But there are plenty of religious liberals, they just aren't obsessing about other people's behavior in the same way. This gets back to the morality question - even if we accept certain values as absolute, we'll disagree in how we pursue them. If we say "contributing to the community" is an absolute value, a conservative may mean working in a church's soup kitchen, a liberal may mean taxing the rich to support the poor, a libertarian may mean creating a company that creates jobs.

The media like having us at each other's throats, but we actually all want to create a better life for ourselves, our neighbors, and our children. But getting people pissed off gets more viewers and more ad revenue, so that's where we're headed.