As the midterm elections come ever closer, it can feel as if we’re stewing in a cauldron of tribalism, of our side vs. their side with no middle ground and little agreement on much of anything. That makes it a good time to take a breath and realize the consensus we’ve reached on some issues that were incredibly contentious not long ago. It gives us hope in the angry days ahead.
Same-sex marriage? Remember when Barack Obama said he opposed gay marriage in 2008 as he was running for president? He was in the mainstream then, but that view is firmly outside of it now. Fully 70% of Americans support same-sex marriage. A generation ago, when Gallup first asked the question, only 27% did. It was in 2011 — barely a decade ago — that Americans’ support first surpassed opposition to same-sex marriage. (Obama publicly changed his position the next year.) What was once illegal is now celebrated.
Marijuana? A vast majority of Americans are with the late reggae star Bob Marley when he sang, “Le-gal-ize it.” Two-thirds of Americans think marijuana should be legal, a record high (sorry), according to Gallup. That’s quite a reversal in just a generation. Twenty years ago, two-thirds were against legalizing it. Americans came to realize that the ridiculous old movie “Reefer Madness” was parody more than parable as it became a cult classic. Marijuana, we now agree, is not meth.
