There comes a point in time when you see your culture going to literal hell around you that you either try to do something about it or else try to tune it out and pretend nothing is wrong.

When I first heard of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, heard the utterly awful things he said, and learned that Barack Obama had been part of this toxic environment for 23 years, I was shocked into action. Listening to this man say, “No, no, no. Not God bless America! God damn America!” while his congregation stood up and cheered left me nausea. Barack Obama, President of “God damn America.” I’m still sickened.

Maybe the public didn’t care, but I sure did. I didn’t know the ins and outs of the corridors of power, or the wheelings and dealings of political horse trading, but I understood that if my pastor had said any of the things I heard Rev. Wright say, that I would have leaped to my feet and stormed of of that church.

I can’t be in that church to stand up and shout my outrage and my opposition. But I can still speak up and confront an increasingly toxic culture. If I can’t help change it, at least I can explain what’s wrong with it.