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If You Can't Join 'Em ...Postpartum gay parents.

Compiled by Geoffrey Andersen
Posted Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006, at 4:36 AM ET

(Continued from page 4)

For some, the hedonistic ways of the Bush twins are hardly legitimate grounds for indictment: Newsflash: 20-somethings like to party! quips RoboTombo, asking "in what moral universe are the sins of the father visited upon the children?" The daughters have the right to abstain from politics, argues Fritz_Gerlich, as "an American's most precious freedom is the freedom to be non-political…if they want to remain airheads till they die, that's their right. It won't make them guilty of anything Britney Spears isn't guilty for." Kija similarly implores us to leave the twins alone:

They didn't choose to be presidential daughters - it was thrust upon them. They are not responsible for their father's infatuation with war and death. They are not responsible for his incompetence.

Politician's kids should be left out of the discussion unless they choose to involve themselves. It would be lovely to see them marching in an anti-war march, but that's got to be their choice.

Pandyora criticizes Kinsley's "bad moral philosophy":

To choose not to serve does not prohibit any citizen from supporting or opposing a war, let alone prohibit them from voicing (or not voicing in the case of the Bush twins) their support or opposition.

Conversely, military service does not entitle one to greater moral clarity. Some percentage of military personnel presumably enjoy to party, while some percentage of military personnel probably opposed the war. Military service does not make their partying any less frivolous or their opposition any more justified.

In no uncertain terms, DavidFlores begs to differ:

Bullshit: when our nation is at war, and arguably the ultimate cause of 1/2 a million deaths over-seas, being "non-political" is a morally repugnant stance. If your country is killing people, then as one who benefits from your country's government, economy, miltary and other institutions, you have a moral duty to take a stance on the killing. It is the status quo that benefits from an ignorant and apathetic body-politic, and thus the powerful who promote ignorance and apathy among our citizenry.

Citing the long tradition of presidents' children who have served in the military or otherwise contributed to the war effort of their times, ARChitect expresses similar distaste for apathy in the face of human casualties:

I was taught to have nothing but contempt for neutrality when people are dying. I don't blame the girls for not pitching into Dad's stupidity--but I do blame them for not taking a stand one way or another. Who gave them the free pass?

I'm reminded of all the times we're told we are a "nation at war." Bullshit. What war? No draft, no rationing, tax cuts--and government officials who won't lead the way, and whose kids obviously don't even believe enough to play a part themselves.

But in practice, whether or not the children of presidents serve in the military is a false litmus test of mor(t)al commitment, points out scout29c: "anybody who knows anything about the military knows that even if the Bush twins had been super gung ho, they would have never been allowed in harms way. No son or daughter of a senator is allowed in danger unless they try and push and force their way into it. The military doesn't want the responsibility of losing a politician's offspring."

As Dallas75 sees it, given the Bush daughters' position of privilege, some minimal engagement in politics is a more than appropriate demand to make of them:

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Moira Redmond is a freelance writer and a former Slatester. You can e-mail her at .
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