John Hinderaker, on the Power Line blog, has weighed in on the question of the sexual orientation of Elena Kagan, a potential Supreme Court nominee.
In this post, I criticized White House reaction to a report, which President Obama's staff calls erroneous, that Kagan is a lesbian. Then, I commented on a left-wing critique of Obama's general approach to LGBT issues.
My first comment on Hinderaker's post pertains to his statement that he "couldn't possibly care less about Kagan's romantic life". As I see it, there are two types of information about one's "romantic life". The first has to do with specific activities one may engage in with a partner. As long as those activities are private and involve consenting adults, I agree that they are no one else's business. The second datum is the nature of one's sexual orientation. Being open about that might involve letting people know the identity of one's partner. Alternatively, if one is single, it's a matter of being open about whether one seeks a relationship with a man or with a woman.
Openness about such things has always been taken for granted in the heterosexual world. Hinderaker himself recently provided an example of that with his post about the first regular-season baseball game played at Target Field in Minneapolis.
He included a picture of his wife, and he identified her as such. By doing that, he is, among other things, saying "I am heterosexual". (A spouse in a heterosexual marriage might have at least some degree of same-sex attraction, but the fact of the marriage indicates that he or she is living in a heterosexual manner.) He could instead have written that this was the woman sitting next to him, without identifying his relationship to her. But that would be ridiculous; why would he do that? It would be equally ridiculous to treat a person's homosexual identity as something that should be kept secret, or something that should be considered irrelevant by others.
Hinderaker's "couldn't care less" (at least he didn't commit the cardinal sin of writing "I could care less"!) is more tolerant than some statements that have been made about a lesbian or gay orientation. But there's still a undertone of inequality there. If someone mentioned Justice Ruth Ginsburg's husband, I seriously doubt that Hinderaker would say he couldn't care less that Ginsburg is heterosexual. But that's his instinctive reaction if someone says (perhaps incorrectly) that a potential Supreme Court nominee is a lesbian. The message (the same one the White House has been giving in reaction to the discussion of Kagan's sexuality) is that the latter is something to be tolerated, but is a defect in such a person.
Now to the substance of Hinderaker's argument against identity politics. I disagree with his characterization of identity politics as a creation of the modern left. For the first 127 years of the federal Supreme Court's existence, all of its justices were white male Christians (only three of whom were Roman Catholic). For the first 178 years, they were all white males. For the first 192 years, they were all male. Just coincidence? I would suggest that that was identity politics, played out in a different way.
Identity politics can go too far. I don't agree with the notion that, after the courts ended gerrymandering of congressional districts in the 1960s, the practice should later have been revived for the purpose of maximizing the number of districts with African American majorities. Similarly, I disagree with those who would impose quotas of any sort on the selection of public officials.
But that doesn't mean it's illegitimate for African Americans to be cognizant of how many among their number have achieved public office, including the presidency. And, while I don't advocate a 50% quota for women, one can take note of such facts as the 17% of U.S. senators or the 22% of Supreme Court justices who are female.
It's a bit different for us who are LGBT. For us, it's all about the openness. It seems quite likely that we had a president 153 years ago. But we were past our bicentennial before anyone was openly gay in Congress. Progress will continue to be held back until those on both the left and right of the spectrum stop treating public figures' LGBT orientation as a dirty secret that should be concealed.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Another Take on Obama and LGBT Issues
No sooner had I posted this critique of the Obama Administration's attitude about LGBT issues, than I saw this article on The Daily Beast by Timothy Patrick McCarthy, entitled "Obama's Cautious Gay Strategy."
McCarthy notes the glacial pace of actions to maybe, potentially, one day, end Don't Ask Don't Tell, and the total lack of action by Obama, an opponent of same-sex marriage, to provide any recognition of same-sex relationships.
Regarding Obama's directive to HHS to make rules providing access by same-sex partners to each other's hospital rooms, I agree with Andrew Sullivan's view that, while I can't say Obama's decision is a bad thing, per se, it glaringly points up the president's opposition to marriage equality. If we had that, no such special rules would be necessary.
McCarthy compares Obama to Bill Clinton, who, as McCarthy notes, signed the Defense of Marriage Act. But, of course, McCarthy blames Republicans for that. What? Did they grab hold of Clinton's left hand and force him to sign it?
People ask me how, as a gay man, I can be a Republican. While it's true that today's national Republican leadership is generally opposed to the LGBT agenda (yes, we have an agenda and, if that sounds sinister, so be it), the Democrats, despite somewhat friendlier rhetoric, have not done very much for us.
Clinton could have vetoed the Defense of Marriage Act, but instead chose to sign it. Whom should we who are opposed to that legislation blame for that? Bill Clinton. A Democrat, last time I checked.
A few Republican governors signed statewide gay rights laws during the 1980s and '90s. Is that strain of Republicanism dead by now? I hope not.
McCarthy notes the glacial pace of actions to maybe, potentially, one day, end Don't Ask Don't Tell, and the total lack of action by Obama, an opponent of same-sex marriage, to provide any recognition of same-sex relationships.
Regarding Obama's directive to HHS to make rules providing access by same-sex partners to each other's hospital rooms, I agree with Andrew Sullivan's view that, while I can't say Obama's decision is a bad thing, per se, it glaringly points up the president's opposition to marriage equality. If we had that, no such special rules would be necessary.
McCarthy compares Obama to Bill Clinton, who, as McCarthy notes, signed the Defense of Marriage Act. But, of course, McCarthy blames Republicans for that. What? Did they grab hold of Clinton's left hand and force him to sign it?
People ask me how, as a gay man, I can be a Republican. While it's true that today's national Republican leadership is generally opposed to the LGBT agenda (yes, we have an agenda and, if that sounds sinister, so be it), the Democrats, despite somewhat friendlier rhetoric, have not done very much for us.
Clinton could have vetoed the Defense of Marriage Act, but instead chose to sign it. Whom should we who are opposed to that legislation blame for that? Bill Clinton. A Democrat, last time I checked.
A few Republican governors signed statewide gay rights laws during the 1980s and '90s. Is that strain of Republicanism dead by now? I hope not.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Do they think there's anything wrong with that?
Solicitor General Elena Kagan is widely reported to be the front-runner to be nominated by President Obama to the Supreme Court vacancy I described here.
Last week, a blogger writing on the CBS News website called Kagan a lesbian. White House spokespeople called that a "lie" and a "false charge". CBS removed the statement, for which it admitted to having insufficient "evidence".
They make it sound as though Kagan had been accused of murder! Accepting for the sake of argument that CBS's statement was inaccurate, it would have been better for Obama's staff to describe it as such.
If she is straight, the inaccurate statement is, as I see it, no worse than saying that she had been dean of Yale's law school, rather than (as is actually the case) Harvard's.
Be the change you want to see in the world, Mr. Obama. If you are truly committed to LGBT rights, rather than merely interested in courting the support of those of us who are LGBT, stop talking (either directly or through spokespeople) in the language of the homophobes.
Last week, a blogger writing on the CBS News website called Kagan a lesbian. White House spokespeople called that a "lie" and a "false charge". CBS removed the statement, for which it admitted to having insufficient "evidence".
They make it sound as though Kagan had been accused of murder! Accepting for the sake of argument that CBS's statement was inaccurate, it would have been better for Obama's staff to describe it as such.
If she is straight, the inaccurate statement is, as I see it, no worse than saying that she had been dean of Yale's law school, rather than (as is actually the case) Harvard's.
Be the change you want to see in the world, Mr. Obama. If you are truly committed to LGBT rights, rather than merely interested in courting the support of those of us who are LGBT, stop talking (either directly or through spokespeople) in the language of the homophobes.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Optimism
New York Times columnist David Brooks is playing contrarian, and expressing a high degree of optimism about America's future. To a great extent, I agree with his point of view. But not completely.
Brooks alludes to "a fiscal crisis" but doesn't discuss it in any detail. As I see it, if the U.S. is going to have any sort of bright future, we will first need to deal with the issue of Social Security and Medicare solvency. The choices are either some combination of benefit cuts and/or tax increases, or default on the unfunded obligations.
Immigration and its demographic effects, as described by Brooks, will ameliorate the solvency problem to some degree. But I don't think it will come anywhere near restoring the balance between workers and retirees that allowed Social Security to appear to work over its first few decades.
I see no basis for optimism about this country's future if that issue is not adequately addressed. Ideally, we should wean future generations off of the Social Security and Medicare Ponzi schemes as soon as possible.
I also take issue with the concept of national competitiveness, which underlies much of Brooks's argument. He notes that, on average, American workers are 10 times as productive as their Chinese counterparts. Is that a good thing? Brooks seems to take it for granted that the answer is "yes". But I disagree.
The more productive that Chinese workers become, the better off Americans are, on the whole. Of course, if Chinese workers get more efficient in making widgets, they might put American widget makers out of business. But an American is as likely to be a customer to the Chinese manufacturer as a competitor. A customer will benefit from greater efficiency on the part of a manufacturer, because that will decrease prices.
The U.S. gets some benefits from having the world's largest economy. It's the main factor making us the predominant military power in the world. We haven't always used that power wisely, and it's a bit of a mixed blessing when we're called upon to be the world's policeman, but, on balance, I'd rather be in our position than not. Also, we can borrow dollars from international creditors, and therefore we're shielded from the foreign exchange risk that can bedevil other debtor countries.
But we're nowhere near losing either of those advantages, regardless of how much China's economy grows in future years. So we have every reason to celebrate improvements in other countries' productivity, which will create better markets for our exports, and hold down the prices of our imports.
My view is that the concept of national competitiveness is based on the fallacy of composition. An individual business benefits from being more efficient than its competitors. But that doesn't mean that a country benefits from inefficiencies in other countries.
Brooks alludes to "a fiscal crisis" but doesn't discuss it in any detail. As I see it, if the U.S. is going to have any sort of bright future, we will first need to deal with the issue of Social Security and Medicare solvency. The choices are either some combination of benefit cuts and/or tax increases, or default on the unfunded obligations.
Immigration and its demographic effects, as described by Brooks, will ameliorate the solvency problem to some degree. But I don't think it will come anywhere near restoring the balance between workers and retirees that allowed Social Security to appear to work over its first few decades.
I see no basis for optimism about this country's future if that issue is not adequately addressed. Ideally, we should wean future generations off of the Social Security and Medicare Ponzi schemes as soon as possible.
I also take issue with the concept of national competitiveness, which underlies much of Brooks's argument. He notes that, on average, American workers are 10 times as productive as their Chinese counterparts. Is that a good thing? Brooks seems to take it for granted that the answer is "yes". But I disagree.
The more productive that Chinese workers become, the better off Americans are, on the whole. Of course, if Chinese workers get more efficient in making widgets, they might put American widget makers out of business. But an American is as likely to be a customer to the Chinese manufacturer as a competitor. A customer will benefit from greater efficiency on the part of a manufacturer, because that will decrease prices.
The U.S. gets some benefits from having the world's largest economy. It's the main factor making us the predominant military power in the world. We haven't always used that power wisely, and it's a bit of a mixed blessing when we're called upon to be the world's policeman, but, on balance, I'd rather be in our position than not. Also, we can borrow dollars from international creditors, and therefore we're shielded from the foreign exchange risk that can bedevil other debtor countries.
But we're nowhere near losing either of those advantages, regardless of how much China's economy grows in future years. So we have every reason to celebrate improvements in other countries' productivity, which will create better markets for our exports, and hold down the prices of our imports.
My view is that the concept of national competitiveness is based on the fallacy of composition. An individual business benefits from being more efficient than its competitors. But that doesn't mean that a country benefits from inefficiencies in other countries.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
What are our Afghan options?
New York Times columnist Tom Friedman has criticized the Obama Administration's support of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
That begs the question: what's our alternative? Friedman was already on record advocating a decrease of American involvement in Afghanistan. George Will goes perhaps a bit further: "America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes and small, potent Special Forces units."
They might be right. But it seems to me that Friedman and Will are looking for a clean solution in a region where things are always messy. I'm not happy with the notion that the U.S. must be the world's policeman. However, I'm not prepared to abandon the war we were drawn into on September 11, 2001.
By continuing our military involvement in Afghanistan are we throwing good money (and lives) after bad?
The war that was less necessary for us to fight, the one in Iraq, seems (cross your fingers) as though it's headed toward a good solution. But that doesn't decrease the degree to which it was necessary to go to war against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Our situation in Afghanistan is a classic dilemma, in the sense that none of the alternatives constitutes a good answer. That includes withdrawal. I'm willing to give Troop Surge II a chance.
That begs the question: what's our alternative? Friedman was already on record advocating a decrease of American involvement in Afghanistan. George Will goes perhaps a bit further: "America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes and small, potent Special Forces units."
They might be right. But it seems to me that Friedman and Will are looking for a clean solution in a region where things are always messy. I'm not happy with the notion that the U.S. must be the world's policeman. However, I'm not prepared to abandon the war we were drawn into on September 11, 2001.
By continuing our military involvement in Afghanistan are we throwing good money (and lives) after bad?
The war that was less necessary for us to fight, the one in Iraq, seems (cross your fingers) as though it's headed toward a good solution. But that doesn't decrease the degree to which it was necessary to go to war against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Our situation in Afghanistan is a classic dilemma, in the sense that none of the alternatives constitutes a good answer. That includes withdrawal. I'm willing to give Troop Surge II a chance.
Monday, March 29, 2010
I hope you're right, Larry
I agree with what Larry Kudlow writes in this blog post about freedom of contract.
But I don't know that he necessarily has a basis for being so bold as to say "Republicans have clearly become the party of the private sector."
Many of us hope that that is the case. But it's one of the big unanswered questions going into the 2010 and 2012 elections. The Republicans' record, when they controlled the political branches of the federal government from 2003 to 2006, is not encouraging in that regard.
The 2003 Medicare expansion wasn't Obamacare, but it was a giant step in the wrong direction, right at the time we should have been preparing for the demographic time bomb that will soon hit the FDR and LBJ Ponzi schemes. We need to, at the very least reduce, and ideally phase out, Medicare and Social Security in their current form.
George Will provides a good summary of that situation, in case by some chance you might need a reminder.
I'd like to see this question asked of Republican candidates at every opportunity: will you indeed be the party of the private sector when you're back in power?
But I don't know that he necessarily has a basis for being so bold as to say "Republicans have clearly become the party of the private sector."
Many of us hope that that is the case. But it's one of the big unanswered questions going into the 2010 and 2012 elections. The Republicans' record, when they controlled the political branches of the federal government from 2003 to 2006, is not encouraging in that regard.
The 2003 Medicare expansion wasn't Obamacare, but it was a giant step in the wrong direction, right at the time we should have been preparing for the demographic time bomb that will soon hit the FDR and LBJ Ponzi schemes. We need to, at the very least reduce, and ideally phase out, Medicare and Social Security in their current form.
George Will provides a good summary of that situation, in case by some chance you might need a reminder.
I'd like to see this question asked of Republican candidates at every opportunity: will you indeed be the party of the private sector when you're back in power?
Friday, March 26, 2010
Krugmancare
What better way to kick off this new blog than by arguing against this New York Times op-ed piece by Paul Krugman?
Krugman cherry-picks a handful of extreme statements, and asserts that they discredit the entire Republican position in opposition to Obamacare. Are the congressional Republicans really the extremists Krugman makes them out to be?
He defines Republican extremism on health-care issues in terms of Ronald Reagan's opposition to Medicare. But Reagan has been proven right on that issue, as he has on so many others.
Medicare is not financially sustainable in the near and long term. Like its friend Social Security, Medicare is a ponzi scheme, and the kitty will soon run out as lower birth rates and higher life expectancy continue to destroy the programs' rationale.
That viewpoint is sensible. And if you want to call it extreme, so be it.
It will be interesting to see whether Krugman's enthusiasm for majority rule in the Senate still holds up when the Democrats next find themselves in the minority in that body. Each of the two most recent presidents has spoken favorably about "up or down votes" in the Senate, but only when his party had a Senate majority.
That point of view runs counter to George Washington's view of the Senate as the place where "we pour legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it." And, if I forget that, the next time the Republicans are in the majority (2011? 2013?), please remind me.
Krugman cherry-picks a handful of extreme statements, and asserts that they discredit the entire Republican position in opposition to Obamacare. Are the congressional Republicans really the extremists Krugman makes them out to be?
He defines Republican extremism on health-care issues in terms of Ronald Reagan's opposition to Medicare. But Reagan has been proven right on that issue, as he has on so many others.
Medicare is not financially sustainable in the near and long term. Like its friend Social Security, Medicare is a ponzi scheme, and the kitty will soon run out as lower birth rates and higher life expectancy continue to destroy the programs' rationale.
That viewpoint is sensible. And if you want to call it extreme, so be it.
It will be interesting to see whether Krugman's enthusiasm for majority rule in the Senate still holds up when the Democrats next find themselves in the minority in that body. Each of the two most recent presidents has spoken favorably about "up or down votes" in the Senate, but only when his party had a Senate majority.
That point of view runs counter to George Washington's view of the Senate as the place where "we pour legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it." And, if I forget that, the next time the Republicans are in the majority (2011? 2013?), please remind me.
New Blog
For almost two years, I have been blogging on another site, called Exploring the Political Spectrum. As I described in the introductory post to that blog, my intent was not so much to express my opinions on issues, as to describe the political process. But, as time has passed, I find myself straying from that original intent, when I can't resist the temptation to express opinions.
So I have created this new blog for my opinion posts. I expect that, on an ongoing basis, the bulk of my writing will appear on this new blog. However, I will continue to write on the other blog, as well, continuing to try to be the Political Science teacher I would have been, had the job market in academia been better.
As on the other blog, I welcome comments, subject to the following guidelines:
I hope to stimulate a discussion of ideas, not of people. I hope commenters will dispute and develop ideas that have been put forward by other commenters and by me. But please refrain from personal attacks on any of us. I will delete in their entirety any comments that:
1. Contain profanity.
2. Include personal attacks on anyone who has published their ideas in this blog.
3. Constitute spam (as determined by me).
4. Are completely off-topic (but I’ll be lenient on this one).
So I have created this new blog for my opinion posts. I expect that, on an ongoing basis, the bulk of my writing will appear on this new blog. However, I will continue to write on the other blog, as well, continuing to try to be the Political Science teacher I would have been, had the job market in academia been better.
As on the other blog, I welcome comments, subject to the following guidelines:
I hope to stimulate a discussion of ideas, not of people. I hope commenters will dispute and develop ideas that have been put forward by other commenters and by me. But please refrain from personal attacks on any of us. I will delete in their entirety any comments that:
1. Contain profanity.
2. Include personal attacks on anyone who has published their ideas in this blog.
3. Constitute spam (as determined by me).
4. Are completely off-topic (but I’ll be lenient on this one).
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