There are many difficult, complex issues in the world — issues that confound some of our great thinkers and, of course, nearly all our politicians.
And then there’s the repeal of the absurd-on-its-face, historical anachronism that is “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
This issue is so easy that everyone should get it. And, if you believe the polls, most of us do.
You can start with the obvious fact that the original concept never made any sense. To justify DADT, which has been in effect for 17 years, you have to believe that the only way to serve honorably in the armed forces and also be gay is to agree to never admit you are gay. You know, like, honorably living a lie.
It’s one thing to create a policy forbidding gays to serve in the military. That would be simple bigotry, which is the way things used to be. It’s another thing, though, to ask gay people who are willing to lay down their lives for the rest of us to live a lie while we pretend that they’re not.
We stay in the closet on DADT by asking gays and lesbians to stay in the closet about their sexuality because of our great fear of troops possibly being winked at in a group shower.
But what really makes repeal so easy is that in a nation divided over seemingly everything, the nation is barely divided here. In fact, by your basic red-blue division standard, the sentiment is all but unanimous.
Among those who believe DADT should be repealed:
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The secretary of defense. The commander in chief.
The majority of people who actually serve in the military. The majority of spouses of people who actually serve in the military.
Nearly everyone else (or, at least, 72 percent of Americans, anyway, according to a recent CNN poll, which also showed 64 percent of Republicans in accord).
One of the most common mistakes made in debate — and I speak from experience — is thinking that because you believe something, others must believe it too. But rarely do we see as much evidence of agreement in wedge-issue land as we do here.
Which brings us to the just-released Pentagon study, in which 115,000 of 400,000 active-duty and reserve troops weighed in on the likely impact of DADT repeal. The results shouldn’t shock anyone — and not just because they’d already been leaked, although not WikiLeaked.
Seventy percent of the troops said repeal would have little or no effect on their unit’s ability. And of the 69 percent who said they had served with someone they knew or thought to be gay, a stunning 92 percent said repeal would be no problem.
You don’t get that kind of consensus in a poll unless it’s asking whether Josh McDaniels should be fired.
OK, Marines have balked in greater numbers, but we don’t make military policy by polling. If we had depended on polling back in Harry Truman’s day, the military would never have been integrated. But knowing that many who would be directly affected by repeal don’t see it as a big deal makes everything easier, particularly in a time of war.
These numbers are difficult to argue, and yet we are talking about the U.S. Senate, meaning that anything is possible. As Michael Bennet was caught saying on a live C-SPAN microphone about his Senate workplace, “It’s just rigged.”
He’s right. The place is rigged. And even though we heard for months how Democrats were ignoring the will of the people by passing health care reform — which is, in fact, a very close proposition — Republicans and some Democrats will try to defeat repeal of DADT, thereby ignoring the will of the people. The betting is it will be filibustered into submission.
John McCain is leading the opposition. Every condition he has set for approval, he has backed away from. Even his wife, Cindy, did an anti-bullying appeal in which she said of the bullies, “Our government treats the LGBT community like second-class citizens. Why shouldn’t they?”
Cindy McCain later said she supported her husband on DADT, which doesn’t make sense. But neither does John McCain, who still opposes repeal even though Defense Secretary Robert Gates warns that if the Senate doesn’t act, the courts probably will.
McCain is already questioning the study’s results — as is Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman, who proves that while there are no ex-Marines, there are old Marines, of which he is one. McCain and Coffman look like two guys standing on the battlefield, not understanding the war is over. If repeal doesn’t pass now, you can bet it will pass later.
The report concludes (as The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan points out) that gay and lesbian troops “did not desire special treatment, to use the military for social experimentation, or to advance a social agenda. . . . From them, we heard expressed many of the same values that we heard over and over again from Service members at large — love of country, honor, respect, integrity, and service over self.”
How much easier can you get?
Mike Littwin writes Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 303-954-5428 or mlittwin@denverpost.com.
