Turn on your television or listen to the radio and you are bound to hear some politician or political figure railing against President Obama for his recent affirmation that he favors allowing gay marriage. (Apparently, Evangelicals and Catholics are outraged.) Conservative radio hosts and provincial ministers are threatening their followers with the destruction of American society. And good old Mittens is warning everyone that Obama has a radical social agenda.
On the other hand, extreme conservatives warn that Mitt Romney would champion radical social changes.
It’s a vicious circle of accusations; but are they even relevant? If you really consider the major accomplishments and movements of the past 100 years, the United States of America has seen its share of radical progress. Arguably, the last 50 years have brought NOTHING BUT radical social changes.
penicillin, space travel, civil rights, women’s rights, economic rise of the middle class, the wane of papal and religious influence, the Vietnam War, fall of the Soviet Union*, the War on Drugs**, the information age…
Our nation has thrived and grown through so many changes. And, I argue, our republic is the better for it. You can decide for yourself whether this “radical change” phenomenon is new or not. In my humble opinion, it is anything but.
Note:
*You may question why the fall of the USSR is on this list. The fall of the Soviet Union had great influence on American political life. McCarthyism, the Cold War, demolition of the Berlin Wall, all of these events had great influence on society.
**The War on Drugs continues today and is the primary reason over 40 percent of the incarcerated population in the United States is African-American males. Because of the war on drugs, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Not even Russia or China imprisons more of it citizens than we do. Free country my ass.
