Salon.com | Canada drifts further from the U.S.

This article from Salon takes the position that Canada becoming the fourth country to legalize gay marriage may have as much to do with the Canadian dislike for American self-righteousness as it does the lasting effect of Pierre Trudeau's Liberal Party. It's entirely possible. The time I've spent in Canada shows them to be a generally kind, reasonable, well-integrated and easy going culture.

There's an ease in how they deal with diversity that America is sorely lacking, as well as a respect for science and secularism. Americans who don't visit Canada are doing themselves a disservice. You really should see what an American culture with little violence, low crime rates, clean cities and a welcoming attitude can be like. They've taken the liberal ideals that made the United States a great experiment and are actually managing to live by them sanely and safely.

Canada isn't perfect, of course. They have a growing movement of social conservatives similar to ours, but they have the good sense to keep them at arms length. We let them highjack our White House and take over Congress. Canada has seen the damage the Christian coup d'etat has done to our once great society and wants no part of it. Good for them.

Equal protection under the law was supposed to be the highest ideal of the American people, even though the United States has had to be dragged forward kicking and screaming to actually put that into action where women, blacks, Native Americans and now gays are concerned. We've let a small group of very vocal reactionaries make our organizing principle seem extreme. When are we going to reclaim our sense of justice, and let our people be who they are without imposing someone else's very limited view of "morality" on them?

The real irony of our situation is that our rabid conservatives don't really seem to believe what they preach. Jesus was not a capitalist. He advocated charity and forgiveness. He accepted everyone. He was a pacifist. The warmongering, greedy, judgemental, oppressive activities of the Christian Right would horrify him. I don't understand how a group can be pro-Israel, yet anti-Jew. I don't understand why they stay mired in the Old Testament, as if Jesus taught nothing at all. I don't understand how they can be so adamantly opposed to the New Deal when Jesus preached charity above all.

What's it going to take for the more moderate elements of our society to wake up and realize that these extremists are hypocrites who don't even practice the religion they want to force on us all?