Brushfire of Freedom
The Irritable Pundit
Hello all,
Chances are this weeks post will irritate you more than normal, the next couple of posts following will continue to do so, perhaps even more. Hopefully, by the time I am finished you (and my fellow BOF bloggers) will forgive me. But isn't it about time we win?
Wait for it...
There is a stubborn streak in the American psyche. It is wide, deep, and easily irritated. Underlying American history, even back to the original colonies, has been a single thread that begins with "What's it to you?" and ends with "That's NONE of your #$&% business!".
Which of course explains the absolutely visceral reaction to what the Democrats have been doing on health care. The plans are bad, the socialist underpinnings are infuriating and the cost is ruinous, but the real emotional kicker is that:
1) no one asked these busy-bodies to do a single thing (What's it to you?) and
2) the busy-bodies are giving us what they think we need, without once asking if we want it or even want them involved. (That's NONE of your #$&% business!)
Americans have started to make their voices heard. They are asking questions like "Why are you doing this?" and " Who asked you to do it at all?" at various town hall meetings. "Milk carton" missing Dems hide from their constituents while others desperately change the subject. All together, their silence speaks volumes about what these busy bodies think of our opinions. Maybe an illustration will help?
(Usual repost permissions apply: Give a link back to BOF and please host the image on your own bandwidth. Love ya! IP)
All that being said, I am going to change the subject away from healthcare now, yet stay on the overall theme.
Yes, this is where you may start to get irritated.
Liberals understand the "That's NONE of your #$% business" underpinning of the American mindset, perhaps better than we do. Don't get me wrong, they could care less about our rights, but they do realize that stubborn streak is there, and they use it brutally. Do you think it is a coincidence that they have framed the abortion debate in those very terms? "Hands off my womb!", "My Body My Choice!" and so on? Not a chance. They do it for that distinctly American "mind your own beeswax" reaction, and it is primarily aimed at independents.
Independents are, by definition, exactly that -- independent. But in reality they stay somewhere in the middle of our left/right polar extremes out of self-defense as much as anything else. It is true (as El Rushbo states) that moderates in Congress often do not stand for anything, but a deeper truth is that the great majority of independents simply do not care too much about what is going on, so long as they are not actively being annoyed. The economy, the country, the future itself, generally runs along just fine for the most part.
Sure, you can call that intellectual laziness if you want to, but politics simply isn't interesting to most folks the way it is to you and I. Which is why, as a block, the independent swing voters will vote for whomever will run things well-enough while leaving them alone as much as possible. I should also point out that the great number of people who never "pull the lever" are non-political because they do not care to become so, but have more in common with independent swing voters than the far right or left. If a person or a party becomes irritating enough even they will get involved eventually (Reagan's landslide).
So why have conservatives allowed ourselves to fall into the busy-body-trap so counter to a major driver within the American spirit?
Oh yes, dear friends, do not even try to argue the point. We have, and it has cost us dearly. We should be concentrating on freedom, on limiting government, on life and and on the work ethic that made this country great. But we allow ourselves to become distracted, and inadvertently make mountains out of molehills. This has allowed the Liberals to do a spectacular job of making us look like fussy "in your business" fools to the independent swing types.
Over the next few weeks I am going to be writing about things that conservatives have to let go if we truly want to hit home runs in 2010 and (more importantly) 2012. Prepare to become VERY irritated. This is only the first. Keep in mind that I am no squishy RINO, but a serious conservative. You will get mad over the course of this series anyway, but keep it in mind. What the heck. This weeks "let it go already" is...
"Gays in the military."
Listen up: They always have been, always will be.
Ta Da! That was easy!
Gays are already in the military (oh, and they are), yet military cohesion is excellent. Therefore the presence of gays obviously does not harm that cohesion. So save that tired argument. Public displays of affection are already Verboten, so don't stress. We won't have staff sergeant couples walking along snogging and there will be no remakes of Attica's shower scenes.
I repeat, they are already there, and these things are not happening. They will not suddenly start happening by simply admitting the reality that there are gays in the military. Get it? All we are doing is drumming out military heros, those who have served their country honorably -- bringing death to the enemy, saving the lives of their fellow soldiers and sometimes paying for their freedoms with their own lives. Why exactly would you want them to be discharged? Just because they aren't as stunned as you are by Mrs. Irritable Pundit when she walks into a room? Does the idea of their living their own lives differently than yours really bother you? If so, let me state clearly, What's it to you?
Think about it. You would deny a man's right to die for YOUR freedoms (after we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to train him to fly a jet) because you don't approve of what he does on his own time and who he is doing it with? If so, let me state clearly, that's NONE of your #$% business!
By the way, if you strenuously disagree with me, yet loved the movie "300", its heroism and bold last-stands, the fledgling democracies and freedoms that those brave men died for... well, you probably don't want to read the real story of Sparta. Believe me when I tell you that Spartan society was not so concerned about what Leonidas was up to in his spare time. They simply stood up for a fallen hero and changed the course of History. In fact, the very concept we hold of freedom in America has its roots in that moment (minus the hollywood special effects). So, to be perfectly frank about it, you owe your freedoms to... gays in the military.
That's gotta hurt.
What hurts more is the flogging we all receive in the eyes of the independents. We look like bigots and homophobes, and we deserve every lash. Not so much for the subject itself, but for allowing liberals to turn the debate away from the big issues to what is really a non-issue. Gays are already in the military, remember? Us standing around with our fingers in our ears "La la la, I can't hear you" isn't fooling anyone. To this day I am amazed the Log Cabin Republicans can stand us. Their very existence is proof of the strength within our core ideals, as apparently "Freedom, liberty, & life" are powerful enough even to put up with our silliness.
But the Log Cabin Republicans are the politically motivated, what about the independents? They just want us to shut up about it, and we should. But believe it or not, for an entirely different reason than anything mentioned above. You see, the single greatest disservice we are doing is to the men and women of our military. We are buying (and selling) the line that somehow, the presence of gays will harm them. That it will destroy their ability to function. That somehow, they are not as capable of handling a gay coworker as you or I.
What utter nonsense. Not only are they capable of it, they have been doing so for a long time under conditions a thousand times more strenuous and dangerous than anything most of us will ever have to encounter . From Leonidas shouting "ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ!" (Come and take them!") to the moment we were told "Lets roll" toward the battlefields of Iraq, our men and women in uniform have already handled the issue of gays, just as they have in the past handled the issue of minorities and every other issue we get our collective noses out of joint over. Yes, dear friends, they have handled it in the only way appropriate, with a resounding, "Who cares?" After which they pick up their rifles and go back to protecting our freedoms and saving our lives. Our nonsense demeans them and their service to freedom. They aren't less capable than us, they are more capable than us. The least we can do is change, "Don't ask, Don't tell" to, "Don't care, Oh well" and stop embarrassing them and ourselves.
By the way, for those who can't let it go because of "where this could lead". Look, I get it. "We are here and we're queer!" is irritating. We should say back "You are there, and who cares?". You don't like it. I understand. You are not gay. It bugs you. But no one is asking you to like it or to be gay. Just to ignore it rather than pretend it does not exist (two very different things). And for those who are totally freaked out, trust me, homosexuals are not really interested in hitting on you, so let that worry go. To paraphrase a well-said variation on the theme, "Middle-aged straight guys aren't their cup of chamomile tea." It's ok, really.
And for those who will doubtless write emails questioning my orientation because of this. No, I'm not. But out of solidarity to our Log Cabin brethren and in deference to our soldiers and their excellent handling of this issue (while we fret like idiots) let me state once more for the record, "What's it to you?" and "That's NONE of your #$% business"
See you next week for part II, when I will unveil another thing we need to let go.
Contact The Irritable Pundit Brushfire Home
Copyright 2009. The published content is the sole property of the author. Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.