In yet another example of wasteful spending and kicking the ball down the field, it was revealed that the Pentagon has hired Westat a Maryland-based firm to survey 350,000 troops and their families on the elimination of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell according to Boston.com. The size of the sample is unprecedented for a social research survey that could easily be answered by simply talking to all of the Western nations that have dropped their anti-gay hiring practices around the world (see my earlier post on this topic). Apparently the sample size is so large and an outside firm is being hired, in part because of the ridiculous DADT law, that would result in the firing of any soldiers who reveal that they are gay when being questioned.
Meanwhile Service Members United revealed today, that the Department of Defense figures on the numbers of gays and lesbians discharged from the military has been under-counted due to the fact that it did not include 630 people in the Army National Guard and an as yet to be determined numbers from the other National Guard services. The witch hunt continues to cost dollars, careers and national security as we drop these well trained and motivated military men and women from serving our country.
What a total waste of money that could be avoided by the Commander in Chief, taking the lead to work with Congress and the military leadership who have already said DADT will end. As Commander In Chief, he can tell the Secretary of Defense to get in line with the accelerated timing that would take place through attaching the elimination of DADT to the Defense Appropriation bill. The military is a command and control environment, and as such, when the Commander in Chief directs them to get in line with the newly passed law, then all members of the military are obligated to follow.
This is politically necessary unfortunately. The fact is misguided bigots (and especially the more malicious flavor) will not take any reason as reason enough to end the discrimination. I fear the outcome of this survey as well. Civil rights seldom come with widespread majority support. This is just a “we aren’t ignoring the bigots” move I suspect, with the wheels probably already in motion to end the discrimination. No amount of factual information will change a bigot’s mind on this matter, most of the time.
I’m not throwing around “bigot” as an insult here. It’s a simple definition of an attitude of holding some people more pure than others, and more deserving of equality than others. I’m not not going to get all politically correct and make bigotry sound any more palatable than it should be.
Thanks for thinking of taxpayers just this one time!