Writer's Block

***Originally Posted to Modern Politics and You***

Andy has generously asked me to write for this blog. While he generally goes for the satirical angle on politics, my style leans more towards political ranting.

So, for the last few days, I've been sitting here thinking about what to rant about...And it's not that there's any lack of things to rant about. On the contrary, there's far too much. I could rant about the fear-mongering on the Left about Bush reinstating the Draft, or the fear-mongering on the Right about liberals wanting to "ban the Bible". I could rant about how things will get worse politically before they get better.

However, those are mostly things that annoy me. There are also things that simply scare me. Things like this:

Gays and lesbians should not be allowed to teach in public schools, Republican Jim DeMint said Sunday in a U.S. Senate debate.

The remark came late in the first debate between DeMint and Democrat Inez Tenenbaum — a testy and acrimonious hour that broke little new ground on their positions on most issues.

DeMint, a Greenville congressman, said the government should not endorse homosexuality and “folks teaching in school need to represent our values.”

Tenenbaum, the state education superintendent, called DeMint’s position “un-American.”

DeMint said after the debate that he would not require teachers to admit to being gay, but if they were “openly gay, I do not think that they should be teaching at public schools.”

My first reaction is to analyze this in a logical fashion. Where exactly does one draw the line at what constitutes "our values"? Who exactly is "our"? Would someone who is openly an atheist be allowed to teach in Mr. DeMint's schools? What about a teacher who is openly socialist?

But then I stop myself. It's useless to thinking about this logically. DeMint, and those like him (the Santorum's of the world) lack any sort of real logic and are being driven by fundimentalist, ideological hate.