I had a political science professor—a big Federalist—who likedto break the nature of politics down to its most basic.

The (abridged) version of his lecture went something like this:You have a small community of people living together. Traffic getsprogressively worse at an intersection at the center of town. Halfthe community demands the city pitch in together to buy and installa traffic light at this intersection. The other half of thecommunity doesn't want, and doesn't want to pay for, a stoplight.The division polarizes the town, launching two rival factions: theRed Lighters and the No Lighters.

Or take it further back: You have a tribe of cavemen who areforced to leave their mountain home. One half of the tribe wants tomove down to the grassy plains to the south. The other half wantsto head north, into the forest.

Now what makes more sense for our wandering tribe? The woodsbecause of its natural shelter and robust game? Or the plainsbecause that's where their God told them to go? The divergence ofopinion—and the discussion it gives birth to—is what we know aspolitics.

As I read—and watched—the back-and-forth over Indiana, Icouldn't help but think of these classroom examples and wonder howfar we've strayed. As we all know by now, Indiana Gov. Mike Pencelast month signed into law the “Indiana Religious Freedom andRestoration Act,” modelled after the similarly named federallaw.

It's worth pointing out that the other 19 states who havesimilar statutes also have laws protecting gays and lesbians fromdiscrimination. Indiana does not.

Make no mistake, religious persecution is alive and well in theworld. Just ask Muslims in central Africa or Jews in anincreasingly hostile Europe. But it's insulting to all of them forworshippers here in the States to bemoan their suffering at thehands of homosexuals.

The one bright light of this story has been the political andcorporate backlash. The response has almost been bipartisan, withthe Republican CEO of Salesforce emerging as an early vocalopponent. And the backpedaling has been as frantic as Wile E.Coyote after he's already left the cliff. It's a textbook exampleof the market putting its weight to bear—with businesses andconsumers alike raging against the Big Red Machine.

Malcolm X said it best when he warned, “If you're not careful,the newspapers will have you hating the people who are beingoppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”

Damn if that doesn't look a lot like what we're seeing inIndiana.