Can you hear the fat lady singing, my fellow Badgers? She's singing about the Democrats preparing to abandon another fight in Washington D.C. During the current lame-duck legislative session, Democrats are silently jumping ship on the LGBT initiative of repealing the ""Don't Ask, Don't Tell"" policy that bars gays and lesbians from openly serving in the armed forces.
In a few weeks you'll start to hear Democrats moaning over DADT. They'll point their fingers where they always point, as a watered down version of the National Defense Authorization Act will pass leading to a Democratic sigh of, ""What else could we do?""
That's when I want you to look them in the eye and tell them that they could have done more. They could have fought it.
Soon, after the NDA Act passes, you'll hear one of two half-assed apologizes. Most will say the Republicans made the bill's passing impossible while a few others will say they tried, failed and that the blame has to fall on their own party. Neither statement is correct because both statements imply that the Democrats tried at all.
At the height of Obama's popularity, this DADT issue was apparently too low on the list of initiatives to care about. As the president's approval ratings dropped, as all insanely high approval ratings tend to do, the Democrats decided that it was more important to save their seats than to fight for anything even remotely controversial.
In a survey sent to troops over the summer requested by senior Pentagon officials, more than 70 percent of respondents said the effect of repealing the DADT policy would be positive or nonexistent.
So if the majority of troops support the repeal, who's really slowing the process down? It's not just the conservatives. The largest lobbying efforts standing in the way of the bill's passing are coming from a small group of elite Army officials—military men who have honorably served this country for a long time. I have a certain amount of sympathy for these officers and their position on this issue.
Their job is to win two (unwinnable) wars and keep troop causalities to an absolute minimum. Because homosexuality is not universally accepted, there is a possibility it could be a distraction. In war, distractions can lead to dead soldiers. However, my sympathies stop when they fail to recognize another essential point in the argument.
During the Civil War, black soldiers and white soldiers fighting together caused a lot of problems. But you know what happened? The soldiers, on both sides, changed. They adapted to the situation because that's what it takes to be a good soldier and that's what it takes to win a war.
Our country's soldiers have overcome race, religion and gender prejudices to fight for America—sexual preference will be no different. This fight, this power to adapt, is what makes American soldiers stronger. It takes courage to change, and it's exactly this form of courage that is lacking in Washington D.C.
More than 13,000 service members of the Army have been discharged under the assumption that homosexuals won't be able to keep their hands to themselves on the battlefield. Congress has yet to end this ridiculous premise. The American people have been ready for this policy to be repealed since it began in the Clinton Administration but it still hasn't passed.
The next few weeks are critical because the Republicans will gain control of the House in January. Since DADT couldn't be repealed at the height of Obama's popularity, it's hard to imagine it will be repealed in the next four to six years.
Democrats, I say your duck is lame. Put the National Defense Authorization Act through, full version, and dare the GOP to obstruct it. Let Sen. McConnell, R-Ky., tell the American public he'll de-fund the whole war because he doesn't like DADT repeal.
If the Democrats want any votes in 2012 they've got to stop thinking about protecting their future and start thinking about why people elected them to Congress in the first place. They need to stop trying to fight the battles they think they can win and start fighting the battles that count.
Mike Kujak is a sophomore intending to major in journalism. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
