Do I think being gay is immoral? No, never really, but it’s easy for me to say that, since I’m not gay and I don’t have to grapple with that issue. I try not to judge others. But this isn’t about me. This is about how we treat people’s own personal feelings towards a very complicated topic.
There’s been much haranguing about Hillary and Barack’s particular responses to some provocative questions:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
So we’ve come to this...discounting candidates based on their soft peddling during a game of "Gotcha’!" I’ll ask it: did they say something wrong? Was there something unwarranted in their statements? There words both seemed justified, and in all honesty, pretty intelligent. Of course, what is so disturbing to many of us is what they didn’t say: "homosexuality is not immoral."
So this is the new litmus test – if you can’t jump through the hoop, you don’t get our seal of approval.
Would I have preferred it if they had made that statement? Probably. But should I judge them because of something they left unsaid? I don’t think that’s really fair, and in all honesty, I don’t like what it says about the Left if we expect our candidates to do so. We’ve all been down this road before - if we continually make politicians prostrate themselves before the altar of political causes (Unions? Check. Pro-choice? Check. Teachers? Check. Gays? Check), then we’ll alienate those who live outside those causes – which happen to be the majority of Americans.
Let’s be honest, for reasons that are biblical to biblically stupid, homosexuality is a complicated issue for many people. People have reason to be torn about it – more particularly if they are religious, or come from a community that has long held hostility towards homosexuality. More importantly, politicians have a reason to be cautious when addressing it.
Bringing in a direct discussion about personal moral beliefs, whichever way they swing, is dangerous territory. Progressive attitudes acknowledge differences in perception – and are most effective when used to pursue actual causes in changing those perceptions instead conducting witch hunts.
Expecting black and white statements is what the other guys do. Ripping apart candidates for showing nuance leaves you with dogmatic, single issue candidates who are good at jumping through those hoops we’ve set up and not much else.
Alright, I’ve already belabored this. Let’s spend our time discussing something a lot more straightforward. Like abortion.