It's the Cognitive Disconnect, Stupid

It's obvious that the GOP doesn't have THAT big a problem with celebrities running for office given their excitement over the attention Sarah Palin has received with her nomination for VP. I won't get into all of the hubbub on either side that has happened since, instead I want to talk about the culture war that accompanies every presidential election.

The war is "us" against "them"; us being good, moral people and them being the morally bankrupt folks that are hell-bent on subverting the moral foundation that this country-supposedly- was built on. The problem is, neither group really exists. What there is are people who have chosen over the past few years to be identified by their political persuasion.

Sarah Palin's daughter can CHOOSE to raise her baby, being in a position to do it a lot more comfortably than many teenage mothers. On the Palin family blog, Sarah's husband congratulates his daughter on her pregnancy with,"It was just last year that I escorted you to the purity ball.." Social conservatism seems to have a lot to do with seeming virtuous without actually being virtuous, the magic abstaining powers of the "purity ball" lasting about 6 months.

Ask any worker at an abortion clinic, many "pro-life" people have ended up as patients. Abstinence-only sex education has led to a reversal of the downward trend of teenage pregnancy and Palin's daughter is only the most famous example. As much as conservatives love to paint certain activities as being exclusive to morally bankrupt liberals, the fact is Sarah Palin smoked pot, Dick Cheney's daughter and her lesbian life partner have a baby, Cindy McCain was addicted to prescription drugs and John McCain chased anything in a skirt for a while. This is not even counting the various examples of adultery and closeted homosexuality that have pop up among the staunchest conservatives over the past few years.

There are very few things in this world that have worked themselves out because people lied about it or denied it existed. Teenagers- then, now and forever- will have sex in some form, it's better if they are informed. Homosexuality is not a choice and should not be treated as such and there is no "Homosexual Agenda", any one who has had personal experience with gay people know this. People will look for some release, be it alcohol or drugs. And we will always make decisions that we'll regret later, but it doesn't make us "them". Let's live in a world where these things are seen for the facts of life they are, we'll all feel much better.