To the Journal editor:

It is my hope to see the day when both conservative-Republicans and liberal/progressive Democrats will become more politically honest and truthful with the American people. There is tremendous room for improvement by both sides.

For example, I just had the displeasure of reading a letter to the editor in which someone claims that all liberal/progressive Democrats are “dangerous” because they want to deny freedom of speech to all conservative-Republicans. Can we please stop this kind of over-generalizing and over-exagerrating that is done by both sides?

The one constant mantra, myth, and “greatest hit” that comes from the conservative-Republican side is the false belief that most of the “mainstream media” is heavily pro-liberal/progressive Democrat. This is “an oldie but a goodie” from the right-wingers amongst us. If there is some way to do this, I would love to provide your readers with research evidence that proves that the opposite is true.

I have read it. One objective study found that more Americans read pro-conservative-Republican daily newspaper editorials than the opposite. If anyone looks up “conservative think-tanks” and “liberal think-tanks” online, they will see and prove to themselves how many times there are more conservative ones than liberal ones. Look it up. It is overwhelming.

I can also direct readers to the recent empirical research done by The Brookings Institute which concluded that conservative Republicans in the news media and conservative Republican politicians and political candidates all insult liberal/progressive Democrats more than the reverse.

Also, a well-known conservative author has admitted that the “mainstream media” is now more conservative-Republican than the opposite. She states that many conservatives know that this is true, but pretend that it is not true because they love to play the “underdog” and to act like they are “victims” and are “outnumbered” because it gets them a lot of votes and a lot of financial donations.

I could go on and on because I have more research evidence and studies that I can share with your readers.

Sincerely,

Stewart B. Epstein

Rochester, New York