The fundamentalist Ayatollahs of Iran, whose theocracy that nation "enjoys," take a dim view of the United States. See the Reuters story at Yahoo News.
As a patriotic American it is easy for me to demonize the Ayatollahs as enemies. Easy, yes, but also at least somewhat unfair.
I'm the descendent of famous colonial-era Puritan ministers. Were those stern old dudes alive today, they'd be as opposed to the modern United States as the Iranian hierarchy undoubtedly is.
Today's United States is libertine, and increasingly secular to boot. Casinos everywhere, abortion on demand, sexting teens, same sex marriage, porn on your computer and smart phone, millions of unwed mothers, websites whose purpose is to facilitate extramarital affairs, and nearly every imaginable sexual orientation and configuration celebrated and honored. And we've started legalizing recreational drugs.
The modern United States does not follow the moralists' "straight and narrow," instead it luxuriates in the "crooked and wide," if that be the polar opposite. No wonder latter-day puritans, in this case Islamic ones, find it as repulsive as my prudish ancestors would have.
