The same arguments could have been said, reversing the Western Church with the Eastern Church and vice versus, when relating the first 1000 years of Christianity, especially during the time of Arianism, Nestorianism, and Monophysitism. The East was seen as the fickle brother who moved and flowed with the tide of culture and the emperor-in-power's flavor. We in the West have undergone massive cultural changes in the last 50 years. It is not surprising that the Western branch of Apostolic Christianity is trying to get a feel for itself. There are many churches that seem liberal, others more orthodox. We are a sign of our times and culture, just as the Eastern churches of Constantinople were in the first millenium.
I don't see this as one half being better than the other. Just as men, our churches face our own respective hurdles in coming to Christ. Just as men, during different points of our lives, we struggle, and at other times, we are at peace. We in the West are undergoing our "Dark Night of the Soul", a time of purging - just as churches in the East have faced the same actions, brought on by a loving God.
Regards
"It's possible there are some goofy Orthodox parishes. But I have never found one."
I have! And they are goofy usually for one of two reasons. First, because they are more ethnic clubs than parishes of The One Church and second, because they are made up of converts, usually from Protestantism, they are simply a bunch of Protestantants playing at Orthodox forms. In fact, the latter has so infected elements of the Orthodox Church here that the SCOBA approved "Sunday School" curriculum is nothing more than a sola scriptura, every man a pope mess! I don't blame the converts; I blame the hierarchs that allow these parishes to exist without proper oversight.
I do think that the Latin Church in this country has rather seriously gone off the rails, but trust me, Orthodoxy isn't even remotely immune from whackiness!