Advance to the Rear

I want all of you to take a look at the culture wars raging in this country. Look at what the fights are about. Then look at how the people that are fighting the wars live their lives. It is in the way we all live our lives that tell us who is winning the wars. Who is running the country, while it makes a difference, is not a big factor in who will be victorious.

The conservative agenda is, without exception, the high ground. The supposed societal norm. Main stream. Easy to defend. It does not require advancement, only maintenance. When examined closely, the issues turn out to be rallying cries for a culture in decline and retreat. Most people still revere the traditional family unit but fewer come from them or live within them than ever. Most people call themselves Christians but fewer are involved actively in organized religion than ever. Women do not stay home, keeping house and raising children. It's not just that they cannot afford to, most do not want to. The suppression of women's reproductive rights, a cornerstone of repressive societies, World wide, is in retreat. Bringing back the veil, stoning, clitorectomy and honor killing will not help to restore it, neither will banning abortion in this country. Denying science and saying the World is six thousand years old is an inadequate strategy to marshal the forces of traditional values. Home schooling is an admission that the mainstream has passed you by, not a method by which you push your lifestyle and philosophy into the mainstream of current culture.

Mainstream culture is like the impeccable Brooks Brothers ensemble that the business executive or equities trader wears to work. It is quickly shed at the end of the day, when the working couple, gay or straight, repair to their suburban lair with their carefully planned 1.4 children. At that point, the straight clothes come off, the tattoos are exposed, the hip hop plays, a big doobee gets rolled and nobody chows down on roast beef, mashed potatoes and Mom's apple pie.

The "liberal agenda" keeps advancing because it's the way people really live. People would rather live according to personal preference than tradition. They would rather pick their friends from the total pool of who is available than who they were raised to believe was acceptable. They would rather believe what makes sense than cultural and religious dogma.

Look at the upcoming elections, during which we will choose the leaders of our country. Look at how they really live, when they are not pontificating for the cameras of the news media. The gay ones aren't mostly liberal. The straight, monogamous ones aren't mostly conservative. Most of them enjoy rolling that first big doobee at the end of a long day, no matter what side of the fence they have been straddling. I don't really care who wins or loses the elections. It doesn't make a bit of difference in the long run. Americans themselves build the families and institutions of the nation by the very act of working and living in them. The changes that come will be made the same way. Consensus at the ballot box only reflect, in the end, consensus on the living room couch.