单项选择题

Passage Four
President Bill Clinton is being squeezed on the issue of gays in the military. Gays demand that he lift the ban on them. But the generals and admirals say, please, spare us this massive migraine.
If Clinton wants maximum effectiveness from the military, he’ll try to squirm out of his political promise to end the ban. He can’t soothe both sides on this issue. If he keeps his word, he’ll anger the military and a large segment of America. If he breaks his promise, he’ll anger gays and their Hollywood supporters, who gave him votes and money last year.
Were I asked to cast a tie-breaking vote; it would be for the military. They know more about what it takes to win wars than Barbra. Streisand or the Gay and Lesbian Alliance.
And if the Pentagon had done a better job of arguing its case, the vast majority of Americans would agree. Instead, gays have skillfully used the media to argue that the military ban is nothing more than discrimination. Those who disagree are called gay-bashers.
"We’re caught in a propaganda war being waged by the media and gay lobbyists," Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis recently wrote," Most media members who advocate lifting the ban never served in the military. They don’t understand the lack of privacy and forced intimacy in the barracks."
He’s right. Military life is unique. The civilian job closest to soldiering is being a cop. There are gay cops, and that’s okay. But as a cop, you work your shift and go home. You don’t live on a ship with another cop 24 hours a day. You don’t shower and sleep near him for months at a time.
And since we’re talking about sex-specifically a form of sex that most Americans consider morally wrong-anybody who says that it won’t affect morale and discipline in the military has never been in a barracks or on a crowded troopship.
Yes, there are polls that tell us that more than 40 percent of Americans think the gay ban should be lifted. These polls are about as meaningful as those that say ten percent of Americans believe Elvis lives. A poll limited to those in the military and those who have served would show that an overwhelming majority would be against lifting the ban.
They know that most who volunteer to serve in our military have conservative, middle-class, God-country-family values. It’s conformist organization from haircut to stockings. And it places less value on individual rights than on the unit as a whole. It has its own laws and justice system, which by civilian standards would be considered authoritarian. Maybe you don’t want to live that way, but if we are going to fight wars, it works.
If gays are accepted by the military, they will demand change. Some activists will probably push for a gay quota at West Point.
There’s nothing wrong with change if it has a positive purpose. This doesn’t. We’re not talking about patriotism, love of country, sacrifice. Gay obsessive-not to be confused with ordinary people who happen to be gay-have an agenda: total social acceptance. And they are using the military ban as a blue chip in their poker game.
A gay Washington lawyer summed it up when he told the New York Times: "Any instruments that defer or delegate this issue to the military are inherently suspect."
Hey, lawyer, this country’s military has won many more battles than it has lost. When it comes to fighting, Gen. Colin Powell’s views are less suspect than those of a Washington lawyer who hasn’t spent one minute in combat. From ousting Saddam from Kuwait to helping Somalia, our military has been effective. As the saying goes, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. In the author’s opinion,