...Lifting the ban on gays in the military isn't exactly nothing, but it's pretty damned closeEveryone knows that gays have served honorably in the military since at least the time of Julius Caesar. They'll still be serving long after we're all dead and buried. That should not surprise anyone.
But most Americans should be shocked to know that while the country's economy is going down the tubes, the military has wasted half a billion dollars over the past decade chasing down gays and running them out of the armed services.
[...]
I served in the armed forces. I have flown more than 150 of the best fighter planes and bombers this country manufactured. I founded the Arizona National Guard. I chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee. And I think it's high time to pull the curtains on this charade of policy.
What should undermine our readiness would be a compromise policy like "Don't ask, don't tell." That compromise doesn't deal with the issue - it tries to hide it.
We have wasted enough precious time, money and talent trying to persecute and pretend. It's time to stop burying our heads in the sand and denying reality for the sake of politics. It's time to deal with this straight on and be done with it. It's time to get on with more important business.
The conservative movement, to which I subscribe, has as one of its basic tenets the belief that government should stay out of people's private lives. Government governs best when it governs least - and stays out of the impossible task of legislating morality. But legislating someone's version of morality is exactly what we do by perpetuating discrimination against gays.
When you get down to it, no American able to serve should be allowed, much less given an excuse, not to serve his or her country. We need all our talent.
If I were in the Senate today, I would rise on the Senate floor in support of our commander in chief. He may be a Democrat, but he happens to be right on this question.
He wrote that during the Clinton administration. My emphasis. His words. You no like? Go argue at his grave.
7 comments:
Yep. Too bad the voice of K7UGA is not abroad in the land. We lost much with his passing. Hopefully, he will have at least a KW mobile wherever he is.
Stranger
I always liked Goldwater. And was he ever right on this one.
It's not anyone's business. As long as they can meet the physical requirements and exhibit the willingness to fight and bleed for their country, I don't care who you sleep with or what position you go to the bathroom in.
One of these days we're going to figure this out. One of these days....
Is it me, or is the Western wing of the Republican party nowhere near as scary as the Southern wing?
Sort of like how the midwest wing of the Democrat party is nowhere near as scary as the Coastal wing.
I stand corrected.
please give my apologies to Tam and LabRat.
Dolan
SFC (Ret)
Thirty + years in uniform and I've worked with, showered with, shared a barracks with, many gays in my career. I think it's time we grew up and faced reality.
As Goldwater said, gays have always served, usually honorably. I spent over twenty years in , and served with several. DADT was, for years, the unspoken rule; Clinton simply got it codified, after much ado about nothing.Now, it simply gives the few who come to believe they made a mistake in enlisting, a way out.
Iknow that when I wore my countries uniform,I was sharing the morning formation with more than one homosexual, but I always figured that there was no difference between us as far as bullets and shell fragments were concerned and that if they were willing to take their chances with the rest of us then more power to them.
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