subject: ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and the Folly of Liberals [print this page] The battle has been joined to rescind the don't ask, don't tell' policy, adapted in 1993 by the Clinton administration, and to now allow gays to serve openly in the military. President Obama, while running for the office, promised gay activists he would take on the establishment and refute the policy as discriminatory. Thus began the revolt against what otherwise had been an effective policy and a significant compromise from what had previously been the rules prior to Clinton's involvement. (Clinton initially wanted to do the same as Obama is attempting excepting the military chiefs stridently balked at his political attempt to intervene in military affairs and thwarted his overtly political move.)
Overturning don't ask, don't tell' was just one of Obama's many campaign promises made to divergent and diverse groups whom he desired to sway to vote for him. There was seemingly something for everyone including the gay contingent who, although a distinct minority in our culture, can be quite vocal if things don't go their waymuch like spoiled children. Obama was in a tight race and was not above prostituting himself in order to be elected. As he often declared, "Every vote counts!", and he was not beyond a bit of pandering to any segment of society although I'm not sure he intended to fulfill the many campaign pledges he made while stumping in every clime and place.
Upon taking office, Obama seemingly didn't immediately push for abolishment of the current policy, or at least didn't meet the time line expected of his gay supporters. Not until after the gay rights groups began a pressure campaign reminding him vociferously of his promise to end the military rules disallowing openly gay service did our illustrious president begin to pressure congress to take up the issue. And, that liberal-dominated institution has done so, and done so disregarding the requests of the Defense Department to delay any decisions until they had completed a survey of military personnel as to their feelings on the matter. After all, they are the ones to be most affected and the military was given until December to conduct their assessment of repealing don't ask, don't tell'.
The House of Representatives has already passed a resolution to revise the policy to one of allowing openly gay service. They jumped the gun and reneged on the promised time allowed for the defense department officials and service leaders to canvas their forces before any action was taken. Now the Senate has attempted to pass a resolution, tucked into the Defense Appropriations Bill, which failed by a close margin on a vote to bring it to the Senate floor for debate. So much for respecting the military, so much for our elected officials keeping their word, so much for common courtesy, and so much for and honestly and rationally dealing with a complicated issue.
The argument has gotten so absurd as to include the likes of Lady Gaga venting against our militaryand being afforded credibility by the mainstream media and even some politicians. At a rally held in Portland, Maine the infamous diva proclaimed support for abolishing don't ask, don't tell' and replacing it with a new policy: one that entails kicking homophobic soldiers out of the military instead. The overly flamboyant gay icon said, "I'm here because don't ask, don't tell' is wrong. It's unjust. Doesn't it seem that don't ask, don't tell' is backwards? Doesn't it seem to be, based on the constitution of the United States, (that) we're penalizing the wrong soldier? Doesn't it seem to you we should send home the prejudiced - the straight soldier who hates the gay soldier. The straight soldier whose performance in the military is affected because he is homophobic... If you are not honorable enough to fight without prejudice, go home!."
Imagine that? A nincompoop, drug addled, lesbian fanatic would dismiss our entire military in a time of war. All to allow openly gay people to serve in their place as if military service was another Gay Pride event. She's an example we should all follow and our politicians heed? (Harry Reid has been tweeting her about getting don't ask, don't tell' rescinded: "There is a vote on DADT next week. Anyone qualified to serve should be allowed to do so." Really? So now Reid is a qualified military recruiter? Is there any clearer reason to boot this ass out of office in November?)
Our leaders in the military, both civilian and senior officers, have been pussyfooting on the matter, some even publicly supporting Obama's political intrusion on the American military as a unique and crucial institution. I wonder where their courage to act in accordance with the best interests of the military services has gone? Have our military leaders become so limp-wristed as to now bow to what is obviously not in their best interest and more importantly the best interest of our fighting forces? Have they all become the Cowardly Lion of Wizard of Oz fame? Even he was renewed with courage at the end of that movie, courage he finally recognized he'd possessed all along, but apparently our military leaders are beyond redemption in this regard.
Now, at a time when our military is as heavily engaged as it has been for more than forty years, at a time when individual troops are ordered to repeated deployments to the war zones, now in a time of military uncertainty and maximum commitment, is the wrong time for our politicians to advocate for a social engineering experiment by endorsing an end to the current dont ask, dont tell policy.
Neither the president nor an overwhelming preponderance of those in Congress have served a single day in our country's military. For them now to pander to a vocal and ultra-liberal minority seeking a liberal interpretation of societys rules is disturbing and quite revealing as to the total lack of any consideration of the residual effects of their actions. To politicize our military in a time of war is as incredibly contemptible as it is indisputably ignorant of the military as an institution, a separate and distinct body burdened with the most crucial tasks of defending our nation in a time of war.
To our politicians I say: Tinker with the civilian world if you must; do not impose your liberal agenda on Americas military for the purpose of vote gathering.
Are there gays in our military? Certainly and always has been. "Dont ask, dont tell!"
(Post Script: The liberal left says the military has discharged more than 13,000 individuals under the current policy in effect since 1993 to 2010. True, but what they fail to also say is that a significant number of these simply wanted a way out of the military and used the system to get themselves discharged. And, the facts are that the military has discharged more people for being fat than being gay! Even so, that is a relatively small number considering it has been done over a seventeen year period and considering it involves a military of about two million people. Do the math.)
