Train Kept A-Rollin’…

I hate wading into Big Issues like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, so I’ll only wade into the shallow end.

I caught some of the coverage of the recent hearings in DC about gays in the military, and couldn’t help but notice how former maverick John McCain really went the extra mile in the service of the status quo, vociferously advocating the continuation of the military’s de-facto ban on allowing gays to serve their country openly.

The thing that struck me was the number of times he returned to his “the troops on the ground won’t stand for it!” line of argument. Since when did the armed forces suddenly become a democracy? Since when did every important decision have to be vetted by the troops first?

My nephew is a Marine. I don’t know how he feels about gays in the military, but I know he’s said that, after one full tour under his belt, he has no idea what we’re doing in Afghanistan. If the armed forces have indeed become the democratic utopia that Sen. McCain suggests, why isn’t he listening as closely to what the soldiers on the ground are saying about a much bigger, more pressing issue—their disinterest in our continued presence in Afghanistan, and get them the hell back home, pronto?

I don’t mind that the senator disagrees with me, I just resent him being logically inconsistent in his argument and not getting called on it. He’s disrespecting our intelligence at the same time as he is undercutting his own talking-points; the case he’s trying to build is silly on its face and just plain doesn’t hold water.

Moreover, Harry Goddamn Truman didn’t take a poll of the rank-and-file when he desegregated the U.S. Army or it never would have happened. He said, this is wrong, and went about remedying it. And the McCains of Truman’s era, who no doubt did everything they could to keep change at bay? Only historians remember their names.

There aren’t any bridges or streets or public buildings named after them outside their home districts. Nobody tells grandiose lies about their families being close back in the day. If we remember them at all it’s because Hollywood made a film out of a landmark civil rights victory (or even a loss, as in the case of “Inherit The Wind”), and their character is the villain of the piece.

Shame on you, Senator McCain. You’re being disingenuous and facile and boring. You’re on the Straight Talk Express directly to the ashbin of history.