I haven’t been proud of America in quite a while.
I know that sounds terrible, and any politician who’d dare utter such words would be slayed as a traitorous socialist wad of crud. But it’s true—I haven’t been. We’ve become inexplicably greedy and socially reprehensible. We demonize the poor, ignore the sick, call ourselves the best and the greatest even as other nations pass us by. All of our goods are made in China, we do crap about the environment and our leaders—both parties—seem primarily concerned with job security, not national security. We’ve behaved as fat, wallowing pigs, and it’s disturbing.
Today, however, I am proud.
When Barack Obama signed the bill ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, he took a bold, powerful, important step toward social righteousness. I know very people people—Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal—who believed DADT was right. If you have a functioning brain and a genuine heart, you don’t support the idea of having your fighting men and women having to hide their identities. If soldiers are uncomfortable serving alongside gay men and women, it’s their problem, and something they must change (not vice versa). I don’t care if you’re gay, straight, communist, socialist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic—if you’re strapping on a gun and serving on the front lines of Iraq or Afghanistan, you have earned the right to be yourself. Period.
That’s America. We might not make the most stuff. We might have lost our innovate edge. Our leaders may well be crazy; our ideals often warped.
But this is the land of the free and the brave, and that has been reinforced.
God bless America.
PS: On a side note, Barack Obama is on a crazy roll—one I certainly didn’t see coming. DADT, Start, the 9/11 Health Bill, the financial deal (one I don’t agree with—but a legislative accomplishment nonetheless). Also, give some of the Repubs credit. They have crossed the line a bit.
