These links came up in a recent Facebook discussion. They address points that I've mostly made myself, but they do it rather more elegantly:
Mostly I just wanted them someplace where I could easily find them again, so I can refer people to them.
"The Magna Carta... came about for the same reason so many landmarks of liberty, including the Declaration of Independence, were established in the English-speaking world---because the upper middle class balked at paying taxes." --Sarah Vowell
I saw the following two stories within a day of each other:
You should read both (they're short), but the upshot is this: in the UK, an aid agency told a religious couple they couldn't foster kids because they wouldn't accept a gay child (or rather, they would "accept" gay children but then tell them there's something wrong with them); in the US, religious aid agencies with public funding told couples they couldn't foster kids because they themselves were gay.
Of Stephen Colbert the character: "He's not mendacious and stupid; he's innocent and stupid. He's more like a puppy urinating on your politics." --Tom Purcell