CIRCLE THIS HISTORIC week on the calendar for your grandchildren. It uniquely demonstrated the wide gulf separating those committed to expressing individual liberty in their personal lives, and those who express their liberty as the preferred way to determine the choices of others.
At one end of the spectrum was the overwhelming passage of a constitutional amendment in North Carolina banning same-sex marriage and civil unions. (Curiously, they were already outlawed in the state). Their rationale was their need to lock into the state constitution "godly values," as they were described by some supporters. Taking no chances, their campaign even brought out the 93-year-old Rev. Billy Graham, who said he was greatly concerned by "moral decline in our country" and that the Bible was "clear" on the intent of the amendment.
But at the other end of the arc, President Obama, risking political backlash in an election year, rose to the moment and declared his support of same-sex marriages. His right-wing critics at Fox News and elsewhere quickly condemned his move as a political stunt rather than a deliberative act of faith.
I have news for them: There are more convenient stunts to impress unsuspecting voters. From the standpoint of moral affirmation of a free society, I would grade the two widely conflicting events as Obama...1, and North Carolina... zero.
It is, after all, 2012.
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