Be Still, My Bleeding Heart

I consider myself to be very liberal. I believe very strongly in the “live and let live” philosophy. I don't consider my views or opinions to be the most important, or even necessarily correct, they are just mine and yours are yours and everyone is entitled to their own. I also believe I'm very tolerant of all kinds of differences. I'm not religious, but I respect everyone's right to believe (or not believe) in the God of their choosing. I'm not gay, but I don't see why gay people shouldn't be given the exact same legal rights to marriage as everyone else. I believe everyone should have access to the best possible health care and education regardless of their economic situation. I believe everyone in Australia has a right to be treated equally and fairly whether they were born here, migrated here or arrived by boat in a desperate attempt to flee their homeland. I am a bleeding heart liberal, and proud of it. But, perhaps ironically, the one area I find it difficult to be tolerant of the opposing viewpoint is politics. I admit it, for all my liberal leanings, conservatives confuse the hell out of me! Now, while I'm tempted to turn this into a political rant, especially as there is a Federal Election going on as I write this, I think I'll spare you that particular pleasure. But I have been wondering if I can consider myself to be genuinely liberal if I am so intolerant of the opposing viewpoint. I don't have to like them, and I certainly don't have to vote for them, but shouldn't I at least accept the conservative view to be just as reasonable and valid as my own? Does it make me a bad liberal if I don't? I feel at this point I should explain for any non-Australians who may be reading that the main conservative party in Australia is called The Liberal Party, so it's not bad enough that I find their politics objectionable, but it also really pisses me off that it's almost impossible to call yourself a “liberal” in Australia without having to explain that you actually mean you're not a conservative. I'm sure they did that all those years ago just to annoy me. Which is one more thing that I don't understand about them. So where does this leave me on the liberal scale? Can I be a truly open minded if I find closed mindedness intolerable? Should I be working on acceptance rather than railing against the conservatism? Am I, in fact, just as bad as they are? More importantly, why don't they just agree with me?! I'm not actually expecting answers, and I may just be trying to come to terms with a potential conservative government led by an idiot in a speedo, but the very liberal side of me is slightly disturbed by my obvious bias against conservatives. I would like to think I could change, but it would be so much easier if they just weren't so damn wrong.