After all the debate over American exceptionalism, after all the worry over the country lagging in various international rankings, in the basement of Christ’s Southern Mission Baptist Church, St. Louis, Missouri a pretty exceptional process was occurring this morning. In a fairly blighted portion of the city, in a building in which people can gather freely to vote or worship, a long orderly line of voters were exercising their right to be heard. As I stood in line, above the checkerboard linoleum floor, above the tables with the slight cardboard voting screens all akimbo, in the light streaming through plain protestant stained glass, a large banner left over from some long-forgotten pageant proclaimed “Worship the King!” I smiled and thought—after it all, after a revolution and 200 plus years of crawling toward a more perfect union—I am a Royalist at heart 🙂

Note:To those of you here for the photos–I wish I had my camera with me, it was an amazing shot (it may be time to get a smart phone)– please bear with a little religious and even littler amount of political sentiment. It will soon be over.