FREEDOM EVOLVES IN SURPRISING WAYS

It's been a good week for tolerance. California inaugurated a governor who
once appeared in a documentary film smoking marijuana--and he's a
Republican. A ban on same-sex marriage was struck down by the Supreme Court
of Massachusetts, a state founded by Puritans. And the Victoria's Secret
models exhibited skimpy lingerie and much else on prime-time broadcast TV,
in front of God and everybody.

America is one of the most religious countries in the industrialized world.
But in recent years, we've established that faith and sin can coexist quite
comfortably. It used to be said that Oklahomans would vote against alcohol
as long as they could stagger to the polls. Today, in most places, it's
just the reverse: Even the sober and straitlaced generally prefer to live
and let live.

In almost every sphere, Americans have decided that vice is nice, or at
least a long way from evil. In the 1960s, nearly every state treated
possession of marijuana as a felony. Today, none does, and a dozen states
have decriminalized small amounts of cannabis, punishing users roughly the
way they punish traffic violators. No fewer than 36 have passed measures
endorsing its use for medical purposes.

Californians apparently don't care that Arnold Schwarzenegger smoked pot in
his younger days, even after they got to see clips of him puffing away. The
indifference extends to higher offices. Recently, during a Democratic
presidential debate, three of the candidates admitted having smoked the
stuff, and no one even noticed.

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, however, made a newsworthy confession. "I
have a reputation for giving unpopular answers at Democratic debates," he
said. "I never used marijuana. Sorry." But why should Democrats mind a
little pot when Republicans have a president who refused to deny that he
ever used cocaine?

When John Adams wrote the Massachusetts Constitution, which historian David
McCullough says is "the oldest functioning written constitution in the
world," he couldn't have dreamed it would someday be interpreted to
sanction homosexual partnerships. At the time, Massachusetts made sodomy
punishable by death. These days, however, not much is banned in Boston, or
most other venues.

As of 1960, all 50 states prohibited sodomy. Illinois was the first to
repeal its ban, in 1960, and by 1986, only 24 states still had such laws.
By this past summer, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled them
unconstitutional, the number was down to 13, and prosecutions were
practically unheard of.

When the court announced its verdict, Justice Antonin Scalia issued a
blistering dissent, predicting that it would bring on "a massive disruption
of the social order." In fact, it reflected the massive changes that have
already taken place.

Scalia feared the decision would lead to gay marriage, but the
Massachusetts decision was in the works even before, and it was based on
the state constitution, not any federal guarantees. The idea of gay
marriage has gained a measure of popular acceptance because gays have
gained so much popular acceptance.

Something has changed when every Democrat running for president endorses
legal recognition for same-sex couples--an idea that would have been seen
as insanely radical a decade ago.

Americans have come to regard sexual matters as beyond the rightful reach
of government control. There is a now a billboard of half-naked porn star
Jenna Jameson in Times Square--not the old, disreputable Times Square, but
the modern, family-oriented one. How scandalous is that? One tourist
approached by a New York Daily News reporter confided, "I'm from Michigan,
and I didn't even notice her."

Baring flesh just doesn't get you noticed the way it used to. "The
Victoria's Secret Fashion Show," which virtually erases the line between
lingerie ads and soft-core porn, was something of a disappointment last
year for attracting only 10.5 million TV viewers. Teenage boys may have
trouble believing that until 1987, the broadcast networks didn't allow live
models on commercials for undergarments. Bras had to be displayed on
mannequins.

The proliferation of racy fare on mainstream television must shock
moralistic conservatives like William Bennett, now that he's not distracted
by his gambling habit. He was able to enjoy it thanks to the growing spirit
of tolerance, which extends to casino gambling. Once an exotic activity
allowed only in Nevada, it's now available in 11 states.

On this and other activities once stigmatized as sinful, Americans are
generally inclined to let freedom ring, even if they don't always like the
results. John Adams and his fellow founders would be surprised, but when
you decide to protect the pursuit of happiness, there's just no telling
where it will lead.