9 May 2012 North Carolina proves the lie of American Exceptionalism

          Go to any athletic event and the stands will be occupied by fans and hangers-on who are  yelling, “We’re number 1!.  This, unfortunately seems to carry over to all manner of occupational, political, military, & cultural situations.   The average American has been conditioned to believe that the U.S. is exceptional & superior with respect to all other nations, political systems, educational systems, health care delivery systems, and professional athletics. 

          Last night that exceptional nature was challenged and found to be full of immense, deep, holes.  North Carolina voters lined up squarely on the side of religious intolerance.  They also voted to single out and discriminate against a minority population of NC citizens. 

          Gay and lesbian citizens in NC have been told that the majority finds them unequal in nature and therefore, are to be denied a basic human pair-bonding ritual.  These good folks of North Carolina were so determined to discriminate against gays and lesbians that they passed a law prohibiting them from “marriage.”  Now, they have passed a constitutional amendment to prevent a later, perhaps more rational, legislature and populace from repealing that law.  That’s adding suspenders to a belt. 

          I keep hearing that allowing gays and lesbians to “marry” will somehow degrade the marriages of all those good and Christian folks who have followed the clamor of the Graham family church and corporation as they lead the American Taliban in their practices of intolerance, exclusion, and just plain institutionalized bigotry.  Try as I may, I am unable to understand how the formalized civil union of any two people of any gender, race, religion, or even intellectual abilities can have any effect on the long and happy relationship that Gloria and I share.  I suppose early childhood indoctrination may be responsible for the emotional and mental conditions that generate that level of malevolence. 

          There was a lot of hatred and intolerance displayed last night in North Carolina.  There was a lot of intellectual inadequacy paraded on radio and television last night as the supposed victors failed, again, to prove how their actions protect anything beyond entrenched bigotry. 

          The decision to discriminate against our own citizens proves there is nothing exceptional about America except our willingness to prove that we can behave like backward members of 3^rd world tribes.  We’ve just proven that we are no longer the magic place, which was once the safe haven for those fleeing persecution.  There’s nothing exceptional about our rejection of the enlightenment. 

          But what worries me most of all is that distant echo of the middle 20^th century.  Was that glass breaking last night in North Carolina?  Or was it the last glimmer of America’s former promise of equal opportunity for everyone being flushed down the drain by the GOP/teavangelists?