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Last Updated: Oct 16th, 2008 - 13:33:17 |
"That's what America is all about," said the senator.
A difference of opinion, if you will. That's what this "great" nation is all about, he said.
The senator, being John-doesn't-have-a-shot-in-hell-McCain, was at a New Hampshire high school the morning of Sept. 4 trying to muster up some support from people still too young to vote.
Don't ask me why. He should have known better.
Kids care. They're young and haven't made up their minds. New ideas, whether they care to admit to it or not, intrigue them. They're curious. The possibilities for change, for betterment, really get them going. Just ask them and they'll send you a text or MySpace message - usually sans vowels - to prove it.
Meanwhile, adults of the voting population, McCain's supporters - simple-minded folks, people who like the idea of an outdated war veteran as president to keep our country just as outdated - don't.
The Arizona republican came to this revolutionary conclusion (that's-what-America-is-all-about) when a 16-year-old, William Sleaster, asked him about gay rights. A tongue of war ensued. Vowels included.
Sleaster asked, "Do you support civil unions or gay marriage?"
McCain responded, "I do not. I think that they impinge on the status and the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman."
He failed to mention how hooking up in a bathroom in a Minneapolis airport - public sex not being revolutionary after all - could also cause some trouble for a marriage, but that's not too important is it?
After all, McCain and his GOP cronies were quicker to dismiss that other senator, Larry Craig, faster than the Idahoan could get his pants up when his potential trick exposed himself as an undercover cop.
Being the clever teen Sleaster - who I hope is smarter and uses CraigsList (no relation) for his romps - continued, "So you believe in taking away someone's rights because you believe it's wrong?"
"I wouldn't put that interpretation on my position, but I understand yours," McCain answered.
Of course you wouldn't interpret your ideas in such a hateful and decisive way. After all, you want to be the leader of the "free" world and you can't start your term off being accused of taking away someone's rights because of a personal and/or political reason can you?
But Sleaster wasn't convinced. "I came here looking to see a good leader. I don't."
"I understand. I thank you," McCain said. "That's what America is all about."
The quote echoes in my mind.
Over and over.
"That's what America is all about."
How many of us have ever just stopped and asked, "What is America all about?" We learn in elementary school America is about freedom. We learn in middle school America is about change. We learn in high school America is about the land of opportunity. And we learn not too long afterward, it all may be a joke?
You see Sleaster and most advocates for equal rights these days have it wrong. So do a lot of people (insert your preferred political party or talking head here). McCain - or any person who opposes gay rights - can't take away our chance to share a life with the person we love and the children we want to adopt.
And they can't take away our right to be ourselves while serving in the military solely to protect "freedom." OK, maybe they can and have taken away that. But you get the idea. Essentially it's impossible to revoke rights when we never had them in the first place. But somehow the powers that be manage. That's exactly what happened prior to the writing of the Declaration of Independence. That's exactly what happened prior to women's suffrage. That's exactly what happened prior to the civil rights movement. And that's exactly what's happening now.
So instead of complaining about our "Stalinist" leader, we must, like so many before us, fight for what is right.
Our forefathers did not guarantee us happiness, but the pursuit of it. And so, kicking and screaming (and sometimes slapping) we must outwit, outsmart and outlast the hate that will continue to oppress us and any other minority until we do something about it.
Luckily the young are always up for a challenge.
Tlk 'bout a rvltn.
Sadly, McCain, as another student at the same high school pointed out, is old. He's 71.
And I highly doubt he'll be around when the fabulous fight has been won and we as gay Americans can share the same rights as our fellow, straight citizens.
And I highly doubt McCain will ever realize that's what America is really all about.
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