Fairfax, VA, USA. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times, the best of all possible worlds and the worse. It was politics as usual on Planet Earth.

The President, an articulate speaker of prefabricated speeches, finds that words do not a new world make. The ship of state that is the greatest democracy in the history of world does not alter its course easily.

Inertia is a sticky wicket that only a handful of politicians can master. Washington, Lincoln, and, perhaps, Franklin Roosevelt (but he needed a depression, a world war, and four terms in office as his lever).

Recent presidents do not have that luxury, nor any desire for a depression or a war to occur on their watch. The best they can hope for is slight alterations in the direction the country is moving. There are no long term tidal waves in American politics. The new world is beyond our imagination. Our reality is always rougher hewn than we have anticipated. Man and human society is perfectible, but not perfect.

Think of politics as a novena that stretches over years and decades rather than days. Political change does not come quickly, no matter how industriously dedicated the supporters of change may be. Political change is never easy, even when you believe you are on the side of the angels and your opposition the Great Satan.

Think of politics as a novena

A novena is a nine day period of public prayer to obtain special graces, ask for special favors, to petition God for a particular outcome. A sense of urgency and neediness is an implicit characteristic of any novena.

Even then, even the most perfect, most prayerful novena may not be answered. God’s plan may be elsewhere. The workings of the human condition are a mystery.

Sometimes a nation’s destiny is elsewhere.

Sometimes the “bad” guys win.

And sometimes your armor just isn’t shiny enough, your political positions not as convincing or as attractive as you may have thought.

Barack Obama rode into office with saddle bags full of perfectly perfect promises he gave his core supporters. His speeches were filled with bright conviction.

Then his horse balked at the first jump and he has been falling farther behind each week.

American politics is played at full speed, played for keeps. You need quick wits and reflexes to stay on top. There is seldom time for deep contemplation – the moment will pass you by while are striving for the perfect course of action.

Obama likes contemplation and consensus. His instinctive reaction to anything new or unexpected is to step back, form a tiger team to analyze the situation, and then contemplate the results before choosing a course that offends the least number of people.

He is slowly discovering that the yellow brick road only exists in imagination. There are no clean, antiseptic answers that apply universally.

He seems to be a slow learner.

The professional left, who believe that all men are brothers as long as you agree with them, is beside itself. Rather than celebrate Obama’s national health success, the professional left only sees betrayal and compromise.

Rather than support the changes Obama has made in the various wars, the professional left complains that war still goes and whines that if the Department of Defense were abolished and all weapons were beaten into plowshares, all would be well in the world. Iran would go back to its mosques, China would quit building weapons and ships, the Taliban would quit killing women and stop closing the schools that educate women.

The professional left sees no evil other than the Government of the United States, a government that has now entrapped Barack Obama and aborted their great crusade. Obama has failed to mount the barricades. Ideology and intent are everything.

Men and women born transsexual have a few simple objectives: medical coverage for sex reassignment surgery, a nationwide legal framework to change the required documentation post surgery, recognition of legal status during transition, and protection from sexual harassment and discrimination while at work.

Our successes have been slow in coming but we are making headway as more and more of us become visible in public and in the government. Both Republican and Democrat administrations, senators, and congresspersons are willing to listen to rational discourse.

The professional left, however, does not agree with us, preferring to lump us with transgendered men and women, crossdressers, and gender activists. They do not trust the purity of our intentions.

Everyone must be the same. All women and men are created equal. In the eyes of the professional left, men and women born transsexual distract from their goal of a classless, uniform America.

So we must all be transgendered, even when we are not.

So we all must be queer, even when we are heterosexual.

So we all must be “progressive” Democrats, even when we refuse to drink the cool aid.

Women and men born transsexual make imperfect the glorious ideal world of the professional left. We are a messy reality intruding upon universal perfection.

Even when they pretend to speak for us under their professional left umbrella, they only worry about job discrimination and sexual harassment and give no support or mention to the unique medical and legal needs of those of born transsexual. They grow angry when we do not fit into the neat, tidy box they have constructed for us.

Like their disappointment with President Obama’s rhetorical timidity and his “failure” to follow the approved golden progressive road, they voice loud displeasure that women and men born transsexual refuse to be silent. They grow angry that we don’t genuflect before their progressive altar.

We must be Republicans.

Even worse, possibly capitalists.

In truth, men and women born transsexual are like any other American who is trying to make the best of an imperfect world. If we don’t believe in planetary perfection, it doesn’t mean we think the world can’t be made better.

We don’t have to be Republicans to disagree with the means and methods chosen by the professional left. And a lot of us do disagree. That is what the discussion is all about.

And we will not remain silent simply because we don’t conform to their professional expectations.

Ms. Lisa Jain Thompson is a Co-Founder & Principal of TS-Si. She also serves as a Contributing Editor and columnist for the TS-Si website. She maintains another site, StarPoet.com, for her poetry and literary works.

Ms. Thompson's signed articles contain her own opinions and do not necessarily convey an official position of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates. Lisa welcomes your comments. Use the form below or email via her TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge any personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission.

The TS-Si News Service is a collaborative effort by TS-Si.org editors, contributors, and corresponding institutions. Sources can include the cited individuals and organizations, as well as TS-Si.org staff contributions. Articles and news reports do not necessarily convey official positions of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates. We welcome your comments. Use the form below to leave a public comment or send private correspondence via the TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge any personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission.


TS-Si is dedicated to the acceptance, medical treatment, and legal protection of individuals correcting the misalignment of their brains and their anatomical sex, while supporting their transition into society as hormonally reconstituted and surgically corrected citizens.

Tweet

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/hide comments

Show/hide comment form

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment