No surprise here, but CNN's Fareed Zakaria cheered the states that
legalized same-sex marriage and marijuana on his Sunday CNN show,
lauding it "a picture of America at its best, edgy, experimental,
open-minded and brilliantly diverse."
Zakaria also noted exit polls favoring amnesty for illegal immigrants.
"I hesitate to build a grand narrative out of all this, but the trend
seems to be towards individual freedom, self-expression, and dignity
for all," gushed the liberal journalist once reportedly considered for
a position in Obama's second-term cabinet.
[Video below. Audio here [1].]
And he got in a jab at Republicans at the end, saying the GOP "has taken to looking at this new America with anxiety and fear."
He called gay marriage "the civil rights cause of our time," adding
that "One day we will look back and wonder how people could have been
so willing to deny equal treatment under the law to a small minority.
And Tuesday will stand as one of the most important moments marking the
end of that cruelty."
Zakaria called the votes for legalization of recreational use of
marijuana "the beginning of the end of the war on drugs. This may be
the most costly, distorting and futile war the United States has ever
waged."
A transcript of the segment, which aired on Fareed Zakaria GPS on November 11 at 10:01 p.m. EST, is as follows:
[10:01]
FAREED ZAKARIA: Growing up in India in the 1960s and '70s, I always
thought of America as the future. It was the place where the newest
technology, the best gadgets, the latest fads seemed to originate.
Seemingly exotic political causes, women's liberation, gay rights,
ageism, always seemed to get their start on the streets of the United
States or in the courts and legislatures.
For me, Tuesday's election brought back that sense of America as the
future. The presidential race has been discussed as one that was about
nothing with no message or mandate, but I don't think that's true. Put
aside the reelection of Barack Obama and consider what else happened
this week. Three states voted to legalize same-sex marriage, which is
the civil rights cause of our times. One day we will look back and
wonder how people could have been so willing to deny equal treatment
under the law to a small minority. And Tuesday will stand as one of the
most important moments marking the end of that cruelty.
Two other states voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana, which
will mark the beginning of the end of the war on drugs. This may be the
most costly, distorting and futile war the United States has ever
waged. Over the past four decades, we have spent $1 trillion to fight
this war without reducing the availability of drugs in cities while
also destroying our penal system. The U.S. has more than three times as
many prisoners per capita as we had in 1980 and about 10 times as many
prisoners per capita as other rich countries, according to data from
the OECD. About 1.6 million Americans were arrested in 2010 on drug
charges, most for using marijuana. This week's votes indicate that
Americans have begun rethinking these policies, perhaps moving towards
ones that would deprive drug cartels of their huge profits and allow
our police to focus on serious crime.
Perhaps the most stunning shift this week came not in the passage of a
ballot measure or law, but an exit poll finding, one that might move us
towards major legislation. When asked what should be done with the
almost 12 million illegal immigrants working in the U.S., almost
two-thirds of respondents wanted to grant them legal status. Now,
remember, four years ago, anti-immigrant voices were so loud that John
McCain, the sponsor of a comprehensive and intelligent immigration
reform bill, had to run away from his own handiwork when he was
campaigning for the White House. I hesitate to build a grand narrative
out of all this, but the trend seems to be towards individual freedom,
self-expression, and dignity for all.
This embrace of diversity in every sense is America's great gift to the
world, one which foreigners, since the days of Hector St. John de
Crevecoeur and Alexis de Tocqueville, have always marveled. In 1990,
the neo-conservative writer, Ben Wattenberg, wrote a book called, "The
First Universal Nation" arguing that, The U.S. was creating something
unique in history, a nation composed of all colors, races, religions
and creeds all thriving in their individualism. That diversity, he
said, is going to be America's greatest strength in the years ahead.
While Wattenberg's party, the GOP, has taken to looking at this new
America with anxiety and fear, he was right. What the world saw this
week was a picture of America at its best, edgy, experimental,
open-minded and brilliantly diverse.
-- Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center