The acceptance of drugs is huge, even if the federal government doesn't get it. All kinds of people, of every class and socioeconomic group take drugs (even Rush :-). It's hard to find someone who hasn't smoked pot, for example. That's a move to the left. The powers involved in interdiction and imprisonment don't want the drug wars to end- but for the most part that's financial and not ideological.
While Craig may not accept homosexuality, much of the rest of the country does. Heck, we've got states where they can marry. Can you say wild swing to the left? You can't discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in several states. I don't know where you've been that you missed that, but that's a leftward move, and a big one.
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Almost every school I know of has a gay and lesbian student organization- can you see mighty drift to the left? :-)
It's true many Americans' views on creationism are ridiculous, but strange as those views may be I imagine they are better than they once were, and we no longer are forced to pray in school as we were when I was a kid, nor are we paddling kids. Leftward Ho. Look at Kansas for a place where the rubber met the road- the creationist thought they scored a win there, and were quickly beaten back. Look at young people- atheism and agnosticism and Eastern religions seem to be gaining some serious ground. I'm pretty sanguine on the potential of the younger generation.
I don't actually think of gun control as a left right issue. I like guns, and I know lots of other liberals who like them. If you want to be a radical, you have to have a gun right? You just never know when you're going to want to join the revolution.
I agree with you that the Bush administration is crap on the environment- but the public actually cares about the environment now (and that just wasn't true in the 60's when environmentalism was some fringe lefty movement), and while the Bush admin can sneak a bunch of crap through without the public knowing, that's more about the sneakiness of the Bush admin, than it is about how the country feels about the environment.
I see leftward movement on just about every issue in the mainstream public. That the Bush admin might be fighting that movement isn't odd- but they are out of step with the country. Hillary is moving to the center- to capture moderate republicans. I sure don't see the rightward movement you see. I think where the minority can impose their will- like the Supreme Court and abortion- that may be a rightward move, but polls show the majority of people oppose such moves. So though our leaders may lean right, they're going the opposite way of the people, imo. |
