Parting shot at the center-right

Can you say "belated Slate" ten times fast? Rather belatedly, Slate has come out with a good article that pretty much takes apart the idea that America is a "center-right" nation. Well, it wasn't that hard to do.

But there's something I'd like to add. People who haven't been to other countries might imagine them as commie socialist paradises, but even if you only compare the U.S. only to other rich countries, there's a lot of areas where we're more liberal. France doesn't allow Muslim kids to wear headscarves in school. Switzerland allowed this campaign poster (and the party that made it did great). Singapore tosses you in prison for having oral sex. Japan makes women change their name when they get married. It also gives you a big fat prison sentence for marijuana. Speaking of Japan, it's one of the many rich countries where women don't have the kind of economic opportunities they have here in the U.S. And the number of countries that have gay marriage is...six.

It's hard to remember this, in the age of waterboarding, domestic surveillance, and "intelligent design," but America started out as the country of individual freedom, and we still do a decent job of it...sometimes. And our system treats women and minorities better than nearly anywhere else on the planet. If people want to call that "center-right," be my guest, but I plan to cling stubbornly to my belief that we're a liberal country at the core.