December 21, 2008
by neighhay
I have been really interested in listening to the complaints from many in the LGBT about Rick Warren. Like many of us, I have seen internet post after internet post criticizing Obama for his choice. The other night out of curiosity I turned on MSNBC. There I heard Rachel Maddow tsk tsk with that skeptical smile(?) and I was definitely squirming when San Francisco’s mayor (BTW there is something about his smile and word delivery that reminds me of Howard Dean!) grappled with whether or not he could bring himself to condemn Obama as Maddow seemed so anxious to do.
I began to wonder about how all kinds of different folks in the gay community are responding to Obama’s choice of Warren. I thought it very likely (as is so often true about all situations and events) that what are most readily accessible to us are the more vocal and extreme reactions expressed by what may not be the majority.
I wondered if maybe there were some more moderate opinions on the subject of Obama and Warren. Since I no longer live in Manhattan or Provincetown, I don’t have many acquaintances who are gay, and so I decided to go straight (no pun intended) to the horse’s mouth and ask a family member point blank if she was upset about Rick Warren’s giving the inaugural invocation.
The reply I got is I think worth sharing if only in the sense it shows, contrary to what the media wants us to think, that there are gay people who aren’t over the top angry about politics. And most important, there are gay people who seek to have a civil dialogue when others are willing to engage them.
To paraphrase an email which is being forwarded among concerned gay citizens, Obama is perceived as someone who could possibly make peace with the enemies of gay people. He might fail, but in the words of the murdered Israeli Yitzhak Rabin, you don’t make peace with friends. You make it with enemies.
In a statement attributed to Andy Tobias, the DNC’s openly gay treasurer, “Rick Warren… is not rabidly anti-gay, by any means, …. but he definitely opposes marriage equality, and worked to pass Prop 8, and, as you know, I am firmly of the belief that this is not what Jesus would have done. I think Warren gets it dead wrong….If it helps Barack Obama govern successfully to have Rick Warren bless his efforts and signal Evangelicals that they, too, are a part of his America – well, I’m not sure that’s bad. My goal is to open hearts and minds….”
I have to say quite frankly that there is really not much I can fault as to the tone of these various statements. It seems many gays feel persecuted and hated and I believe that many of them are, and I believe there is no place for persecution of anyone in our country. Period.
As to some of the content of the above statements: I do find myself in opposition to the assertion that same sex marriage should be legal because it is a right. Tobias states that Jesus would not have opposed it, but I am afraid I don’t agree with Tobias on that point, either. I part company with him at the end of his statement where he says that the goal of opening hearts and minds is to gain “our rights (marriage?) and appoint progressive judges to protect them.”
In conclusion, I was relieved to reassure myself that there is some thoughtful and compassionate dialogue taking place within the gay community. But while I agree that gays must be treated with civility, not hatred, I am still strongly opposed to same sex marriage and I think progressive judges legislating from the bench are a dangerous way to further any agenda.
Guest Commentary: The Politics of Corruption
December 23, 2008 by Al Bregar 4 Comments
I would like to discuss some of the recent events happening such as the bailout and Illinois politics of corruption. There is a direct correlation and if we continue to walk blindly through election cycles and believe a messiah will come. I have a question for you folks, when is the last time you voted for a politician because you believed in them? Better yet when is the last time you voted for someone because you knew how they would vote on a bill before the Y/N button was ever pressed?
Now unfortunately there are some who know how a politician will cast his vote beforehand for less preferable reasons. For instance when the parties go to their prospective caucuses many enter the room not to debate the merits of a bill but instead to hear how they will vote. Then you have those cases of votes being bought whether through previous/future kickbacks, campaign contributions/fundraising, or the honorable and ever popular earmark. I mean Senators vote is a darned valuable thing you don’t just vote for a bill because it’s good for our country. Such a vote merits compensation, maybe a Woodstock museum or possibly a nice new indoor rainforest. We complain and are in awe of such brazen acts as a Governor trying to sell a vacant Senate seat yet daily approve of legalized selling of votes in our legislative branch daily through earmark exchange. No one even bats an eye when a congressman or senator votes for a bill they don’t like just so one they do like will pass. If you don’t think this is a daily routine for many, then I’ll be selling you that nice little bridge in San Francisco. No, actually tell you what I’ll buy you a ticket to Chicago or for that matter anywhere else in the country just one catch you have to leave from the Dubuque Amtrak station. The ticket will be waiting and you just sit down and wait for the train to get you to that desired location.
Seriously I’m shocked not that this Governor would offer the senate seat for sale but that we would be surprised to hear this. Just go to any college campus and ask a student how much a politician would have to pay for their vote? Maybe an IPOD would do it actually it was right out in the open during primaries each campaign sending envoys to woo delegates buying dinner and offering all kinds of other perks to get their vote. Our society gets outraged when a corporation votes with their wallet/lobbying power for that government contract. But we sit idly by while candidates bribe the poor with social programs or Unions with special rights to hold a company hostage if demands aren’t met.
The fact is the only good reason to knowledgeably cast a vote is not by asking what this candidate will do for you but rather how will this candidate vote when freedom is on the line? If you think freedom can be maintained while government grows daily then once again our education system has failed to keep you informed or you simply wish to stay naive. Our nation is at a breaking point years of government expansion and erosion of checks and balances provided in the Constitution mixed with a serious lack of historical knowledge from the electorate.
Now we can be attacked from outside but all that really amounts to is a scratch, a bruise, or worst case scenario maybe a broken bone but we will heal. Other super powers throughout history did not fall to outside forces before they were destroyed from within a history lesson Americans ought to take to heart if they were being taught.
This isn’t just referencing the state we were in after physical attacks but also the idea that but also the notion that one’s job or livelihood may need a government intervention or bailout. Each is an instance of individuals putting the façade of security over the freedom of our fellow Americans. It is the belief that somehow our own personal security is more important than any other individual which brings us to this state of mind.
Until we educate ourselves and hold politicians accountable to preserving the interests of freedom then we will continue to allow ourselves to break from within. The attacks from outside are superficial but the cancer growing inside is what will tear us asunder.
Filed under Guest Commentary, Politics Tagged with corruption, Politics