Oh, Andrew.

Andrew Sullivan can drive me nuts, sometimes.  Actually more often than not.  But sometimes he writes a piece that is so good and spot on that I have to say bravo and link to it.  It talks about the paradoxes of America - and why it is so maddening yet lovable.  As a foreigner I share a lot of his sentiments (save for the conservative religious stuff, that's where my mind is still stuck in the cynical Europe he puts down ever-so-gently in the column).  

The one bit that I thought was particularly interesting was the comparison between bigotry in America and Britain:

"In America, the bigotry you face is real, unvarnished and in the open. In Britain, it can come masked or euphemised or deflected into humour. It hurts much more to punch a brick wall than to punch a deep velvet cushion. But if you punch hard enough, the wall will one day crumble, while the pillow will constantly absorb the blows."

It rings true and yet I could make the argument that in some respects the reverse is the case.  Isn't America the birthplace of political correctness, after all?