美国政坛新精英 人人都是少数派
http://t1.g.hjfile.cn/listen/201208/201208211123202007950.mp3When the Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney selected Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate, this marked a watershed in US politics. For the first time in American history, not one of the candidates competing for the White House will be a WASP or a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. This community played a pivotal role in the founding of the US as an independent nation. And for centuries, its members dominated the country's politics. But this is now changing dramatically as our Washington correspondent Johnny Diamond reports."God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America."
Ten words that must to Americans seem almost anodyne, but that never fail to remind the European listener that this is still a deeply religious country. So what to make of the fact that the old white Protestant hegemony has been broken?
"Well, it does represent an important historical change, because Anglo-Saxon Protestants, particularly members of the large mainline Protestant denominations in the United States, have played an extremely important role among political elites."
Professor John Green of the University of Akron Ohio thinks this is a moment. Right now, Barack Obama is the only Protestant in the highest reaches of US government. Supreme Court is Catholic and Jewish. The leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives are Mormon and Catholic respectively. The vice president is a Catholic. The Republicans have a Mormon at the top of their ticket, and a Catholic is up for their vice presidency slot.
All this diversity shouldn't perhaps be that surprising. It can't have escaped many people's notice that there is now a black man as president.美国共和党总统候选人米特·罗姆尼选定威斯康星州众议员保罗·瑞安作为其竞选搭档，标志了美国政治的一个转折点。有史以来第一次，美国总统竞选人中没有一人是WASP，即盎格鲁-撒克逊族裔的白人新教徒（White Anglo-Saxon Protestant）。这一族群在最初建立美利坚合众国作为一个独立国家的过程中起到了关键作用，几个世纪以来其成员也一直主导了美国政坛。但如今，形势发生了巨大的变化。请听本台记者约翰尼·戴蒙德在华盛顿发回的报道。
“愿上帝保佑你，愿上帝保佑美国。”
这句话对美国人来说肯定平淡无奇，但在欧洲人听来，总能让他们意识到美国宗教化程度依然很高。那么，对于白人新教徒的传统霸权被打破这一事实，要如何看待呢？
“嗯，它确实代表重要的历史性转变，因为盎格鲁-撒克逊的新教徒，特别是新教各主流教派的广大成员，在美国政界精英中一直占据着极为重要的地位。”
美国俄亥俄州阿克伦大学的约翰·格林教授认为，当前确实是重要时刻。
眼下，巴拉克·奥巴马是美国政府最高层中唯一一名新教徒；美国最高法院的大法官都是天主教徒或犹太教徒；参议院和众议院的领导者分别为摩门教徒和天主教徒；副总统是天主教徒；共和党的候选人名单首位是摩门教徒，他们的副总统候选人则是天主教徒。
这种多元化的现状也许并不是那么出人意料。多数人想必都注意到了，现任总统就是一个黑人。
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