GOP=Ghastly Outdated Prejudice

The Party that Boos a Gay Soldier

 

(First of all, let me start by saying: L’shana tovah! May it be a healthy and sweet Rosh Hashanah to all who are celebrating!)

It should come as no surprise to us by now that Republican politicians are consistently hypocritical, paradoxical, and incoherent when it comes to articulating a set of policy positions.

Long gone are the days of Eisenhower, Goldwater, and the so-called “Rockefeller” Republicans who espoused a fundamental belief in the importance of competitive markets as the engines through which the most wealth and well-being could be produced for the greatest number of people. The notion of a moderate Republican has truly become an anachronism, or rather a species in hiding—hiding from the puritanical purges of the Tea Party, seeking to refashion the contemporary Republican Party in the image of their theocratic, extreme-right ideology. The moderates refuse to stand up to the Tea Party for one simple reason—the Tea Party conservative faction of the GOP has effectively become the GOP. There is no longer the possibility of political viability for a Republican candidate who would dare to repudiate the hard-line, xenophobic extremism of their Tea Party counterparts. And so the cycle continues, with the Tea Party gaining more traction and attention without a peep of dissent from the ranks of moderates (those who have not yet been ousted by Tea Party primary challengers, that is).

What’s really scary about the toxic impact of the Tea Party has been put on full display in the recent round of Republican presidential debates. I’m sure many are by now aware of the disturbing exchange that took place in a recent debate in which a gay United States soldier directed a question about the now-defunct “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy at the panel of candidates. The soldier’s announcement that he was gay was summarily greeted by resounding “boos” from the audience. And not one of the GOP candidates condemned it. Not a one. If you haven’t seen the video of the exchange yet, I would highly suggest taking a second to watch it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKtzOjAWGIE

Think about the cruel irony: a member of the United States Armed Forces, addressing the alleged pro-war and pro-strong-national-defense party, is booed and cussed at, and not a single candidate for that party comes to the soldier’s defense. By not condemning the inexcusable bigotry and vitriol of their audience, these candidates have taken a decidedly ANTI-SOLDIER position, siding with the civilians over the men and women (gay and straight) who give the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of their country.

It’s almost too easy to show the GOP reversal on this issue. For years and years, Republicans supported DADT because they claimed that the decisions about what’s best for the military should ultimately be decided by the Pentagon, not so-called considerations of “social policy.” There could be no ideology or partisanship injected into debates over defense policy, the GOP argued, and most Americans bought that argument.

Fast-forward to today: the Pentagon has concluded that the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Policy does not contribute to our military’s readiness or effectiveness, does not improve unit cohesion, and has now rescinded the policy. Seems like Republicans, if they were being consistent and not rigidly clinging to their own sensibilities on “social policy,” would have to be in support, right? After all, the Defense Department, the Joint Chiefs, all of those in their capacity in charge of formulating military policy have made a determination with respect to DADT. How can they argue with the military making decisions about its own policy after they’ve already said that is precisely how the issue of DADT should handled?

Because, of course, it was never really about the troops for them. It’s about politics. They don’t give a damn about the soldiers, or else they would give a damn about the gay man who risks his life for his country and wouldn’t give a damn about what the gender of his partner happens to be. If they’re really so confident in the military’s ability to train a professional and highly-disciplined cohort of soldiers, they would not imply that certain (i.e., gay) soldiers are more likely to violate the military’s already-well-defined sexual harassment rules than others.

Santorum’s warped, 19^th-century worldview leads him to view the question of fairness in treatment of gay and lesbian soldiers in the military as one about “sex” (as the Youtube clip makes abundantly clear). He does not, as most Americans now do, see it as one of honoring and upholding the dignity and worth of every human being.

So I now pronounce that the Republicans have shown their true colors: politics instead of patriotism, bigotry instead of fairness. I hereby pronounce, then, that the Republican Party has rightly earned itself a new name: GOP.

Not, of course, “Grand Old Party,” but rather: “Ghastly Outdated Prejudice.”