Santorum, DADT, and the End of Rational Logic

The Republican Presidential debates now have a well-deserved reputation for attracting the some of the most hateful people America has to offer. In the first debate, audience members cheered the hundreds of executions that have taken place in Texas; at the next debate, several members interrupted Ron Paul to proclaim that sick people without insurance should be allowed to die; and last night the crowd found a collective voice in booing Stephen Hills, an active duty Army soldier dodging bombs and mines in Iraq, for having the audacity to ask the candidates if they would reverse the progress made in eliminating “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”

But more exasperating than the audience boos was the illogical, ill-informed, and incoherent answer given by candidate Rick Santorum... which somehow elicited hearty applause from the worked up crowd that was apparently unable to engage in the slightest glimmer of critical thinking.

Santorum’s three critical statements are these:

1) “Any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military.”

I’m not sure what he means by this. Is this his way of saying that homosexuals should not serve, since they have a sexual drive? If so, doesn’t that mean that heterosexuals shouldn’t serve in the military either?

Or perhaps he believes that when one enters the military, one embraces complete 100% celibacy, even when one is stationed overseas for years? Does he really believe that forced celibacy - which any monastery or convent will tell you must be strictly reserved for only a tiny, tiny portion of a very unique and committed population – should be imposed on several hundred thousand soldiers – most of whom are in the sexual prime of their twenties?

Is he completely unaware that the single most common medical treatment offered at military bases around the world is the treatment of STDs?
hmmm, how did that happen?! Is he unaware that the most common operation performed by Navy medics at sea are vasectomies? Does he mean to suggest that he would end all treatment for STDs on bases because “sexual activity has no place in the military?” and, therefore, it shouldn’t be allowed, permitted, enabled, or recognized? Does he really believe that? And is he aware that most of these STDs are contracted by heterosexual soldiers? Does he know that bases keep supplies of condoms for them when they go on leave?

Does he think the phrase “red-blooded American boy” had its origins in actual blood color, and that GIs come home virgins? Why does he think that sailors have developed a certain reputation upon hitting port on leave? Or hasn’t he heard?

To the extent that sexual activity is as much a part of the human condition as eating, drinking, and sweating, it actually *does* have a place in the military...and the military knows it far better than Santorum does.

2) “...[repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”] is an attempt to “inject social policy” into military policy]...

Yes, it is, and that is just as our founding fathers hoped it would be, when, in adopting the Declaration of Independence, they criticized King George because he had “rendered the military superior to the civil powers.”

Yes, it is, just like Harry Truman did when he insisted on ending racially segregated barracks and platoons in the military.

Yes it is, just like the military does in recognizing the importance of soldiers spirituality, and providing them with chaplains. Just like when we recognize the importance of families and provide on-base housing for spouses of deployed military members.

Yes it is, just like when we declare that our military’s purpose is nation-building, and protecting one political group from another.

Yes, Rick, that’s all Social Policy, and we do it in the military all day, every day. Get over it.

3) Regarding orientation in uniform, Santorum said: “Keep it to yourself, whether you are heterosexual or homosexual.”

Really? So no one – gay or straight – should name their spouse as beneficiary should they get blown apart, because that would reveal their sexuality. No one should read letters from their spouses to their fellow soldiers, because the masculine and feminine pronouns might give away their orientation. They should never show their family’s pictures, and never share their lover’s successes or heartaches...because in so doing, they are revealing their sexuality, which Santorum believes should be “kept to oneself.”

So, you should live and work with a barracks of your closest friends 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and rely on them (and they on you) for your day to day survival...and never share your hopes and dreams or stories about your spouse or lover.

Unless, of course, you’re heterosexual. Then it’s OK. If you’re homosexual and you do that, you’re flaunting your sexuality and you should just "keep it to yourself.”

Santorum’s platitudes have nothing to do with security, or the best interest of fighting men and women, or with military preparedness or functioning.

Santorum’s positions flow from a deep-seated, personal aversion to sex.

His obsessive reaction against the mere mention of normal, healthy, diverse sexual activity – by his own admission – disgusts him. He doesn’t want to know it exists. He can’t process it. He squirms.

Apparently, simple jealousy of others activities has morphed into hate-filled jealousy of anyone who gets something that he doesn’t – and has now morphed further into outright hatred of sex, of pleasure, of the human condition. He simply can’t handle it. And so he lashes out with these illogical, nonsensical cliches that excite a passionate GOP base, but should quickly lose traction with most thinking Americans.

What a sorry, twisted, pitiful being is the Adamantly Repressed.