Linda KetnerIn an amazing display of Conventional Wisdom regurgitation about how politicians are lagging indicators in American political culture, the NYT’s Adam Nagourney uses many words, some of them big, to define why DeeCee won’t move as quickly as America to acknowledge LGBT rights.

Identifying why politicians aren’t reflecting American values," Nagourney writes:

The conflicting signals from the White House about its commitment to gay issues reflect a broader paradox: even as cultural acceptance of homosexuality increases across the country, the politics of gay rights remains full of crosscurrents. 

Of course, these crosscurrents are by no means unique to the struggle for LGBT rights, as we commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Stonewall riots.   A South Carolina Congressional candidate, Linda Ketner, who came within four percentage points in her 2008 campaign, explains to AdNags that change hardly ever comes from DeeCee:

“America is changing more quickly than the government,” said Linda Ketner, a gay Democrat from South Carolina who came within four percentage points of winning a Congressional seat in November. “They are lagging behind the crowd. But if I remember my poli sci from college, isn’t that the way it always works?”

Oh, snap.

In other words, your thesis is mundane, Mr Nagourney, and you should know better. Water wet; sky blue; DeeCee politicos lag American culture. While tangentially acknowledging that the change in American attitudes toward LGBT rights is primarily generational, Nagourney misses a key point: our representatives in DeeCee are part of the older generation that retains dying attitudes about LGBTs.

David Axelrod, a senior Obama adviser, said, “You look at polling and attitudes among younger people on these issues are startlingly different than older people.”

“As generational change happens,” Mr. Axelrod added, “that’s going to be more and more true.”

We don’t just need to wait for older bigots die off; we need to elect younger, more accepting people to office in Washington. We need to be out and proud when dealing with our Congresscritters.  They need to know who we LGBT constituents are and what we want. Our representation needs to change in order to reflect American culture.

Whether American politicos change their own attitudes or are changed out for others whose attitudes are more reflective of what Americans believe is immaterial.

Change is coming, though. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.