MCCAIN: You know, my son is now out of the Marine Corps. The proudest moment of his life is having serving in the Marine Corps.\u00a0His words to me, as so many thousands of others\u2019 words have been to me: it isn\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it.<\/p>\n
KING: So he wants to keep it just in place as it is right now?<\/p>\n
MCCAIN:\u00a0They believe that it is working and I\u2019m very reluctant to discuss my children\u2019s views.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Oh, sorry for imposing on you by twisting your arm, Senator.<\/p>\n
But look at that phrase: “It’s isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”<\/p>\n
You who don’t want to see gays openly serving in the military probably think the system is working. \u00a0Gays aren’t openly serving in the military. \u00a0If there are closeted gays, they can always be dealt with if they become open enough to file charges.<\/p>\n
So, yeah, for you the system is working. So, of course, you don’t want to fix it. \u00a0Arguably, it’s even working better than the old explicitly <\/em>witch-hunting days, which (a) took time and effort and manpower and made an unpleasant, inconvenient \u00a0stink, and (b) were more likely to rob the service of those few gays who were interesting in serving their country, even while lying about who they were and who they loved. \u00a0DADT is like a win-win for you.<\/p>\nBecause, of course, you can still <\/em>get rid of they gays if they become visible. If they step out of the shadows they’ve been pushed into and suddenly make you uncomfortable.<\/p>\nYou can even argue to the extent that the military is functioning without openly gay service members. \u00a0See? It’s working! We’re fighting two wars! \u00a0Of course, maybe we’re short a few people we’ve spent a lot of time and effort training up, or who’ve served with distinction, or even those who never bothered to enlist in the first place. But, hey, there’s no sign that’s causing us to lose the wars we’re fighting.<\/p>\n
So, yeah, the system “works.” It “isn’t broken” … for some values of “broken.”<\/p>\n
Of course, we could have a system that “worked” with other conditions. \u00a0No open Muslims. No open atheists. No open Mormons. No open Jews. No people of Korean descent. No people from Vermont. \u00a0No people of a particular political belief. No people who … well, fill in your blank for any relatively small population that you figure the military could, in theory, get along without.<\/p>\n
The system could “work” that way, too. \u00a0But it wouldn’t be right<\/em>. It wouldn’t be just. \u00a0It wouldn’t be what we’re fighting for. \u00a0Nor is the current system.<\/p>\nThe system only works, today, for you who like <\/em>the current system. The system isn’t broken for you who think the results are what the system should <\/em>do.<\/p>\nAnd for those for whom the system doesn’t<\/em> work? \u00a0Those who are thrown out of a valuable, productive career because they were discovered, spotted offbase in a compromising hand-holding, or because they could no longer live a lie? \u00a0Or those who serve because their love of country is so great, but have to do so in secret, never opening up, never being able to trust, never being able to laugh or love in a genuine fashion for fear of discovery?<\/p>\nThe system doesn’t work for them. \u00a0It’s broken for them.<\/p>\n
But Sen. McCain is very reluctant to speak about their views, as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A phrase I’ve been hearing lately about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, finally bubbled up enough times for me to notice it. Sen. John “No, wait, the goal posts are over here now!” McCain was painfully, reluctantly describing how his son, a former \u00a0Marine, felt about the controversy: MCCAIN: You know, my son is now out … Continue reading “If you think it ain’t broke, you need fixing”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gay-stuff","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":138512,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/03\/31\/puerto-rico-isnt-the-only-place-being-neglected-post-hurricane.html","url_meta":{"origin":19603,"position":0},"title":"Puerto Rico isn’t the only place being neglected post-hurricane","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 31-Mar-19 4:21pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Maybe the Commander-in-Chief can ship the Marines at Camp Lejeune some paper towels.","rel":"","context":"In "Climate Change \/ Weather \/ Disasters"","block_context":{"text":"Climate Change \/ Weather \/ Disasters","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science\/weather-and-climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/camp-lejeune-hurricane-damage.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/camp-lejeune-hurricane-damage.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/camp-lejeune-hurricane-damage.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48846,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/10\/mccain-on-the-torture-report.html","url_meta":{"origin":19603,"position":1},"title":"McCain on the Torture Report","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 10-Dec-14 12:55am","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been repeatedly, and gravely disappointed by John McCain several times over the past decade-plus. But he's spot on here, informed not by ideology but by his own experience as a tortured prisoner of war in Viet Nam.'The use of torture compromises that which most distinguishes us from our enemies,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12735,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/10\/07\/presidential_debate_2.html","url_meta":{"origin":19603,"position":2},"title":"Presidential Debate #2","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 7-Oct-08 10:50pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm going to try to be lest transcripty and more \"here's what my impressions were.\" As with the VP debate, I was out at karate during, so I'm DVR-blogging ......","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3481,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/11\/12\/the_well_read_j.html","url_meta":{"origin":19603,"position":3},"title":"The Well-Read Jarhead","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 12-Nov-02 7:01am","format":false,"excerpt":"The Marine Corps maintains a Professional Reading Program list, basically a required reading list broken out by rank. Lots of interesting books there, and the ones I recognize I can...","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3730,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/04\/04\/i_am_not_a_numb.html","url_meta":{"origin":19603,"position":4},"title":"I am not a number!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 4-Apr-03 9:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm sure someone 'round the Viet Nam War thought replacing all those military \"serial numbers\" with folks Social Security Numbers was a great idea. I mean, why force people to...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130960,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/29\/the-manly-men-of-the-marines-feel-unmanned.html","url_meta":{"origin":19603,"position":5},"title":"The Manly Men of the Marines Feel Unmanned!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 29-Jun-16 6:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Apparently some US Marines (present and past) have their khakis in a wad by the \"pussification\" of their branch of the service by Political Correctness Gone Mad, as the Marine Corps (which now technically allows both men and women to serve in all roles) pursues more gender-neutral language for job\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}