I'd word it this way: the CENTER of the country (what Libs disparingly call 'fly-over country,' which in fact makes up the majority of the country), is leaning more and more right, while the coastal cities and a few urban pockets in the middle are leaning equally strongly more and more left -- the politico-philosophical gap is widening and deepening, and politicans of BOTH major parties are taking advantage of average folks' gullibity and ignorance in most things political, historical or Constitutional.

With the political rhetoric (yes, including among gays, as well as those opposed to them) and news media hysteria ratcheted up to unprecedented levels, it seems almost unconscienable that Americans have reached a level of vitriol that we are actually expressing OUTRIGHT HATRED for each other, for our regional differences, for our political differences, our lifestyles, what kind of cars we drive, our religions, what our incomes are, where we choose to live, etc etc etc. It seems NO ISSUE -- not even the death of the late Pope, for God's sake! -- is beyond the digs, arrows, slings and attacks of some interest group or another craving its 15 seconds in the cable news limelight.

We are spending seemingly BOUNDLESS energy on destroying each other, and the framework that once made us and our Nation great -- our commonality and unity -- rather than focusing with dead-aim on those trying to destroy all of us in one fell swoop should they ever develop (or acquire) the technologcal means to do so. Good people of *all* political stripes can eventually come to terms, and there ARE political options -- we shouldn't limit ourselves to the increasingly extreme dogmas of the men and women currently in control of the Democratic and Republican parties -- what it will take is the courage of our convictions to say "Enough is enough -- we demand a third (fourth, or fifth) way! -- even if it means bringing new parties to power" And for God's sake, preserve the Constitution -- EVERYTHING that makes us a FREE people comes from that great document, not from politicans (or their blind followers) trying to score cheap political points with divisive rhetoric.