Democratic debates have always been a great source of comedy for me and this year is no exception. I enjoy watching the silver spoon candidates answer off the cuff questions. Seeing them rack their brains and try and remember their pre-scripted answers can be comical, if not disheartening. Most of the time they're polished as one would expect, but there are times they may say something when really you know the candidate is either clueless or indifferent.This was none more evident in the Logo Debate. Obama, Hillary, Edwards, and no one else you care about or sadly ever heard of, courted the gay press in a debate style similar to Oprah. Candidates sat in a cozy chair while a panel of three asked various questions about gay rights. Actually most of it included Melissa Etheridge talking about herself, but still various softballs were thrown at the presidential hopefuls including the age old question of whether someone thinks homosexuality is a choice or not. I still haven't figured out how a straight person can honestly answer that. I sure as hell can't.
Regardless I didn't make it through the debate. Frustration set in quickly as I am already tired of hearing people argue over the merits of military service, marriage, and same sex partner health care benefits. At the risk of sounding offensive I'd really like these issues to be resolved in the next four years. If homosexuals want to die in an incompetent war let them. If a gays want to enter into property arrangements with people they love, well fine. Give them that.
As someone who takes a libertarian view on social issues such as these I have to admit I am for gay marriage and military service not just because I believe consenting adults should have that right, but I selfishly want the public discourse to be about other things. I would like our electorate to move beyond such issues and focus on what really is going to determine the future of our country. Foreign policy, global trade, and running a military are what is really going to determine which person I want elected to the highest office in the land and if we continue to dominate the political landscape with outcry over what consenting adults do with their genitalia such problems will fall off the radar. The effects may be devastating.
"There will always be someone else with a different view than you. I appreciate them and would never say that they are wrong. I hope that they would give me that courtesy also." - Melissa Etheridge
5 comments:
Is Logo going to have a Republican debate as well?
Yay for same sex rights!!!
I would say it's important to settle these things for their own sake. Are gay rights as important as the war or global warming? I find it hard to think so, but I'm not gay. I think it greatly affects a good chunk of our population, and so it ought to be solved. Even if the impact seems much less to the rest of us. "No man is free unless all men are free," and all that.
There's no reason the government can't handle internal, social issues and other policy as well, aside from the fact that most elected officials are too busy going to lunch with lobbyists and taking bribes to actually solve anything at all.
I just saw clips of this on the Daily show...interesting haha.
As for the Republican debate on Logo... All of the Republican candidates were invited, and they all said no. So much for a Republican debate.
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