Originally published: November 25, 2007

That horrible organization, the Boy Scouts is getting into trouble again.  Horrible, of course, because they won’t allow openly gay scout masters.  You see, these days, an organization’s view of homosexuality is the only litmus test.  Never mind that young men learn character, skills, loyalty, companionship, team work, patriotism.  Doesn’t matter.   All that matters is their view on sexual preference.

Actually, sexual preference wasn’t stated as the problem in this recent case.  But it seems that our local governments are on such a roll against the Boy Scouts, they’ll come up with anything. And man, did they have to scrape out the bottom of the barrel to find this one!  In Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Boy Scouts were taking donations at polling places on Election Day. The donations were for the purposes of sending gift packages to the troops.  The city forbade them, claiming that such a gesture toward the troops constituted a “political statement” and was therefore not appropriate for polling areas.

So now supporting our troops is a political statement?  I’m confused. I thought the left had their own memorized speech about how they “oppose the war but support the troops.”  Of course I never bought this.  On one hand they were comparing the actions of our troops with the Nazi’s and yet they “supported the troops.”  Would we have excused Germans who stood against Hitler but supported his SS and concentration camps?

Certainly one can support the troops without supporting the war.  But they would have to first disavow any mindless comparison with the Nazi’s because that displays an  ignorance that the left ought to be ashamed of.  But yes, this distinction can be made. One can agree that our troops are doing what they truly believe to be right, and at the same time honestly disagree that Iraq is the best current theater for war. One can (in such a scenario) genuinely support our brave troops.

This kind of support is all the Boy Scouts were trying to do.  I was both a Cub Scout and an Explore Scout. (I somehow managed to skip Boy Scouts.)  At neither time did I know enough about the world to have an informed political opinion about anything. But I did understand that sending a care package around the holidays was simply an act of kindness.  You see, kids understand these simple pure gestures that complicated adults have forgotten.  One must be an adult to realize we live in the days when no good deed goes unpunished.

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