Daltrey Was Right

Well, as most of you are probably aware of, our Congress is currently reviewing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays serving in the military. Now, the people who made this policy during the Clinton years believed that gays, if allowed to serve openly, would be ostracized and abused by their superiors, and disrespected by their subordinates. At the time, this may have been true. However, society has changed since then. People have become much more tolerant towards the LGBT community.

Now, this would be a good time to introduce my "glass cocoon" theory. Basically, this states that as soon as someone receives a position of power in government or the military, they enter a sort of shell where few of the changes on the outside reach them. This effect can be held off by frequent trips to actually talk and listen to the constituency. Exhibit A: David Obey. Elected in 1969 in a special election to replace Melvin Laird (Nixon's Secretary of Defense), this man is the prototypical career politician. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1962, and immediately started campaigning for an Assembly seat, which he won. He was only seriously challenged twice, in 1972 when redistricting left his hometown of Wausau in a district held by a 15-term Republican, and in 1994 when he won by 7 points. When Sean Duffy began gaining major momentum to unseat him late last year, Obey realized that he had no clue how to use the Internet to campaign. Noting the severe disadvantage he was at, he announced his retirement, effective in January 2011. Even when he was running for reelection, he was rarely seen in his district, but we kept voting him in because we believed that the devil we knew was better than the other guy.

Where the hell were we? Oh yes, gays in the military. The blowhards in Arlington and the wingnuts in Washington don't realize that we, as a people, don't care about someone's sexuality anymore! The only constant in society is change, and one of the defining characteristics of monolithic institutions is that they take years, decades, or even centuries to follow suit. The "elder statesmen" believe we are still in the 70's, the top military brass see America as it was when they enlisted in the 80's, and most of Congress thinks we're still the same country that we were before 9/11. We're not. In the past decade, we have grown from a country spoiled by two decades of uninterrupted success to a people who are sick of being lied to and are ready for real change. We thought we were getting that in 2006 and 2008 when we voted in a set of progressive Democrats who were going to give us "hope and change". Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

We have one more chance to get this right
One more chance to win this fight
For the world is crumbling at every turn
And the leaders fiddle while we burn
The only thing that can save us all
Is a surge of truth to break their walls