those were these days

Boy the way Glen Miller played 

Songs that made the hit parade. 

Guys like us we had it made, 

Those were the days. 

And you knew who you were then, 

Girls were girls and men were men, 

Mister we could use a man 

Like Herbert Hoover again. 

Didn't need no welfare state, 

Everybody pulled his weight. 

Gee our old LaSalle ran great. 

Those were the days. ("Those Were the Days" by Charles Stouse and Lee Adams)

When Archie Bunker hit the airwaves in in 1971, America was greeted with a character who openly could say many of the things secretly thought by so many. At first many who considered themselves educated, progressive, liberal were appalled because as savvy as the intelligent were, it seemed, a little too much hate and bigotry for one half hour. The bigot, racist, homophobe however thought at first they finally had a hero. They were too steeped in their own unintelligent religious/family based ignorance to see just how much the fool Archie Bunker really was.

And as “All In The Family” aired until 1983 it did not shy away from addressing controversial or socially relevant subject matters and tried its best to demonstrate how the lack of information, truth, and real depth could destroy and demean. At the end of each episode however we the fabrications were found and the fraud revealed.

On May 8, 2012 a majority of bigots, spurned on by falsehoods preached at their house of God, by so called interpreters of God voted to ignore our Constitution in favor of a misinterpretation of a Bible. A majority of North Carolinians who need a scapegoat to hide from their own failures in life, voted to deny the right for the LGBT community wed legally, and to dissolve any households where children are being raised by common law or same sex families. (The same state also amended its Constitution in 1875 to ban interracial marriage). Sinfully so, these individuals call themselves Christians and perceive themselves as messengers from God. (You know the same God who fought in the Revolutionary War penned the US Constitution, and wore the colors of the Confederacy during the Civil War.) 

And like the lyrics from the television show ‘All In The Family’, heralded those good ole days when men in white robes roamed North Carolina soil and burned crosses in the name of Jesus.

But then, like the last scene on episodes of ‘All In The Family’, a lesson was written, to help the viewer better understand that bias and bigotry, venom and vitriol do not always have to trump good and righteous. Today, President Obama said “Same sex couples should be able to get married and supporting equality for the LGBT community. 

The bigoted, ignorant, uneducated North Carolinians who voted for Amendment One wanted to drive that LaSalle, once again elect Herbert Hoover and listen to Glen Miller, have won one battle in their war based on religious discrimination. But with the presidents encouragement and conscience this is just one small defeat in a war for equal and freedom and an America where all people are free.

Wouldn’t be nice if in 5 years from now we can look back at this Republican/Tea Party anarchy having brought truth and justice back to the fore and say, wow those were days...when a real America was re-born.