Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Threat to my marriage: Gay Unions? No way! George Bush? I'll say!

In his latest misadventure in bigotry, George Bush is speaking out against gay marriage. I will not be the first to say that this is code-language, bigot-speak, adapted from the old anti-miscegenation 'them blacks are after our wimmen' notions - now transformed into "those gays are after our sons." As a man who has been married to the same marvelous woman for fifty three action filled, 3D adventurous years, I feel I am one of the most qualified men in America to offer an opinion on the real threats to marriage among my countrymen. And George Bush is a big part of that threat. Like his ally and spokeswoman for the lunatic right, bimbo-fascist Anne Coulter, George Bush likes to wrap his bigotry in a moral fundamentalism that defies all sense, and in Bush's case reflects the cruelty of a loutish mind and an impaired moral vision. He cannot be unaware that the very anti-gay marriage law (covered over as "defense of marriage") that he proposes to write into law is an invitation to gay bashing, and that he puts innocent men and women's lives at risk when he suggests such legistlation to the Congress, even though one and all recognize that he is simply playing to his base with other people's lives, something he tends to do with war and peace. There are times when I think our President regards all life as some kind of big flat screen videogame with no real consequences for those whom he can manipulate. Still, there are real threats to any marriage and I would like to list them in the following paragraphs.

Real threats to ponder. Money problems. A decent minimum wage might do more for defending marriage than any other government act right now. A secure, well paid job is no assurance of a lasting marriage, but it sure helps. Another threat: Children. Nothing can tear a marriage apart as the unhappiness of our children, their school problems, their work problems, their marriages and divorces, and their illnesses. Speaking of illness, there is little to match cancer for threatening a marriage with stress, pain, and medical bills. And MS and Parkinsons do a good job of separating the girls from the boys. Indeed, medical advancements in these areas that might have been made have been delayed if not stopped by Bush's forbidden stem cell research - cures and good health might save many a marriage. Let's face it, the greatest threat to a loving marriage is death, not gays.

Now to get personal. George Bush is personally threatening my long standing marriage as no one else could possibly do. Here's what happened. I am a self confessed political junkie. When Bush speaks to the nation, I listen. Unless..unless..my wife is nearby or in the room and tells me to "turn that monster off." Almost from the beginning, when Bush first appeared on the national scene, she had a visceral dislike for Georgie Porgie. She hated his fake macho swagger, she despised his phony Texas drawl, she loathed his unctuous piety, and simply would not sit still to watch him in repose speaking to the nation or in action figure mode strutting on battleships. Elections came and elections went, State of the Union messages were delivered, but she refused to be in the same room with our President via television. She appears to regard it as a moral weakness on my part that I sit there transfixed by his speeches, determined to hear the very worst in the way of governance that he can offer first hand.

Now I do not like to be criticized for my taste in TV viewing, and if that includes a masochistic pleasure in watching our President, so be it. Who is she to grab the remote control and demand a Bushless world? Everyone knows that the remote belongs to the man in the family, even under the most extreme, provocative situations such as an appearance by our President. Why must I sneak about secretly turning on the TV, keeping the volume low, my finger on the mute button ever at the ready, hoping that my wife will not appear to shoot down my moment with George Bush? He has turned me into a furtive, politically unfaithful spouse. These differences about Bush watching may be signs of a deeper incompatibility that might well threaten our fifty three year old marriage but so far we have faced this Bush crises and prevailed. Question? How did I manage to be married for fifty three years when I am at best only fifty-two. There must have been an intra-uterine ceremony. Still, it has been a great marriage - filled with much pleasure and some pain - the way all good marriages manage to be - enhanced by the raising of two great sons. So, except for the matter of Bush's TV appearances - we feel we are safe 'till death do us part. And regarding gays? Who in their right mind can be threatened by other people's love, be they straight or gay, when the real threat to love is a ruthless President's manipulation of hate? So Happy Anniversary my darling. You're right, as always, but please stay away from my remote. Sherman