DADT vs The Obama Nation

[ruggerson]

by kingubu

Sun Jun 07, 2009 at 10:18:08 AM PDT

President Obama's calls for greater civic engagement is directly at odds with the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. The two things cannot be reconciled.

kingubu's diary :: :: Discrimination based on sexual preference is just plain wrong. Telling gay volunteers "well, we suppose you can serve as long as you lie about who you are", is not only asinine, its dishonorable. Even as a purely practical matter, tuning away or firing highly qualified and trained volunteers at a time when our armed services are stretched to the limits by years of continuous war is frankly suicidal. Are American lives so cheap-- or has the world become so safe-- that we can blithely turn away those who would defend us just because of who they might like to kiss during their off-duty hours? Certainly not.

One of the things that most inspired me during then-candidate Obama's run for the Presidency was his dogged focus on civic engagement and public service. An entire generation-- mine, GenX-- grew up in a political environment where conservative anti-social, anti-government rhetoric dominated the landscape. Government workers were mindless drones and useless parasites. Public service was the last refuge of the loser who couldn't get a "real job".

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Obama's calls for civic re-engagement, his full embrace of grassroots volunteerism, and his elevation of public service was, to a large degree, what sealed the deal for me during the primaries. I watched in amazement as millions responded to his calls to get involved and it changed me. I took a long hard look in the mirror and laid my sneering indifference down. Cynicism is not sophistication. Apathy is a cancer and those who raise their hand to do something-- anything, however small-- in the service of their community are true healers.

It is from that perspective, civic engagement, that I find the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy so utterly appalling. Here we have people who have chosen to order their lives around a massive commitment to the public good; choosing to put their very lives and physical well-being on the line in the service of their fellow citizens. People who have proven willing to do the very thing we say we hold in highest esteem: to serve. And yet we tell them that, solely because of their personal sexual preferences, their service is not required. Worse, we tell them to go away. We rob them of their ability to contribute. We declare their sacrifice invalid. It drives a dagger right into the very principles of public service and volunteerism that carried President Obama into the White House. It is inhuman and it must end.

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