I remember seeing Blinded By The Right in stores, but didn't think it was worth getting. What I did buy and read was Not A Conspiracy Theory (How Business Propaganda Hijacks Democracy) by Donald Gutstein. I was a bit disappointed. I thought I was going to get an explanation of how specific propaganda pieces distorted truth, but instead all I got was essentially a list of who's who in neocon and libertarian think tank funding. Gutstein never even tried to make the case that what they were doing was propaganda (rather than setting the record straight) and he strangely ignored all the progressive propaganda I see all the time (though I'm sure progressives merely see this as setting the record straight).

Another book I did not think was worth reading is The Liberal Mind (The Psychological Causes Of Political Madness) by Lyle Rossiter. From what I heard he makes the case that liberals never grow up because they had unmet needs in childhood, or something like that. The thing is, I don't believe this will ever convince liberals they are wrong and will only cement in their minds how crazy conservatives are.

I recently wrote a post (can the media be biased both ways?) that touched upon the phenomenon of two people reading the same article and seeing it confirm their (opposite) points of view.

It seems that everyone of all sides tries to frame the arguments in ways favorable to them. Which frame is the "truthful" one, and which ones are propaganda? One can only go by common sense and apply the same principles of logic they use in everyday life (and were born with) to the world of politics. This is all I do. If there are some elements of the "conservative" message that resonate with me, it is because they tell me what I already believed. Who's blinding whom?

I'm glad that you have become interested in these things. Perhaps we can discuss matters further in the future to learn better where the other is coming from. Professor Haidt's work is a good place to start, but I would warn you that the way he has the five foundations arranged are wholly inaccurate in my experience. Holisticpolitics.org has a similar, but I believe more accurate, model of moral foundations (only four in this case).

Good luck.