Every time Southerners agree on something, they're wrong.
Slavery
Jim Crow
The Klan
Lynching
Not only "No New Taxes" but "Ever Lower Taxes"
Religious fundamentalism
Biblical literalism
Tobacco profiteering
Opposition to organized labor
Gun giddiness
Hate groups
The belief that violence is a solution to every problem
Capital punishment
Immediate unquestioning support for Uncle Sam's "next" war
Lousy educational systems
The worst health indicators in the nation
The highest divorce rates in the nation
Stated opposition to "welfare" despite being the nation's chief beneficiaries of federal "handouts"
"Red State Moocher Links"
Incest and in-breeding. (Maybe that’s what’s wrong; Southerners have created a self-destructive gene pool…)
Fiercest opposition to The Affordable Care Act
And now -- to make a "clean sweep" -- prohibition of same-sex marriage. (Somewhat surprisingly, Catholics "see the light" on gay marriage and support it 51% to 47%. Of course, Catholics live in blue states, which is to say they don't automatically see "red.")
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"Blue States Secede"
... featuring "Fuck the South"
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"The terrible thing about our time is precisely the ease with which theories can be put into practice. The more perfect, the more idealistic the theories, the more dreadful is their realization. We are at last beginning to rediscover what perhaps men knew better in very ancient times, in primitive times before utopias were thought of: that liberty is bound up with imperfection, and that limitations, imperfections, errors are not only unavoidable but also salutary. The best is not the ideal. Where what is theoretically best is imposed on everyone as the norm, then there is no longer any room even to be good. The best, imposed as a norm, becomes evil.”
Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander by Trappist monk, Fr.Thomas Merton
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May 8, 2012
Half of Americans Support Legal Gay Marriage
Democrats and independents in favor; Republicans opposed
by Frank Newport
PRINCETON, NJ -- Fifty percent of Americans believe same-sex marriages should be recognized by law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages -- down slightly from 53% last year, but marking only the second time in Gallup's history of tracking this question that at least half of Americans have supported legal same-sex marriage. Forty-eight percent say such marriages should not be legal.
These results -- based on Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs poll, conducted May 3-6 -- come at a time when Vice President Joe Biden's remarks on "Meet the Press" Sunday have at least temporarily brought the issue of same-sex marriage back into the news spotlight. Biden said he was "absolutely comfortable" with the idea that same-sex couples and heterosexual couples are "entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties." President Obama, however, has stopped short of saying that he favors legalizing same-sex marriage.
Last's year's Values and Beliefs survey marked the first time in Gallup's history of tracking this issue thata majority favored legalization. Prior to last year, the highest level of support had been 46%, measured in 2007. In 1996, when Gallup first asked the question, 27% supported it, while 68% were opposed.
The issue of same-sex marriage sharply divides the American public along political and religious lines. Almost two-thirds of Democrats support legalizing it, compared with 57% of independents and 22% of Republicans.
Catholics are right at the overall average in their views on same-sex marriage. The Catholic Church officially opposes same-sex marriage and Biden himself is Catholic. Significantly less than half of Protestants approve, while those who identify with no religion overwhelmingly approve.
Implications
The trend on Americans' attitudes on same-sex marriage has not followed an entirely consistent trajectory. While the percentage in favor increased to 46% in 2007, it slipped to 40% in the following two years. In somewhat similar fashion, last year's increase to 53% support has edged back down slightly this year to 50% -- not a statistically significant change, but not a continued increase, either.
This year's results underscore just how divided the nation is on this issue. As a result, President Obama's campaign strategy team obviously is continuing to grapple with how to handle it -- with the vice president on the one hand essentially endorsing legalized gay marriage, while the administration on the other hand stops just short of the same pronouncement. Obama's core constituency of Democrats strongly supports the issue, as do the majority of the important election group of independents. The president has said his view on the issue is "evolving," so it is possible he will eventually go on record as supporting gay marriage, but for now, he officially remains opposed.
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