Dearest Gentle Reader,

Pennywhistle's Political Papers

Personally, I harbor no prurient interest in nor could I care less about Vance’s college drag shenanigans. I would hazard a conservative (pun intended) guess that 50% of college students probably do similar regrettable things they wouldn’t want to become public when sober, older or both. I know I sure did! Likewise, I don’t care if Vance wears eyeliner, Estée Lauder brand from some chic boutique or Great Value brand from Wally World. Honestly, or naively, I did not know he wore eyeliner. Call me unobservant.

From this attitude arises my legitimate, uninformed question: Does intolerance of ‘drag’ put you on a slippery slope toward intolerance of other sexual deviations from the heteronormative? If one is offended by a man who dresses like a woman, how much more offensive would he think a man who behaves like a woman? Can one disdain drag and embrace LGBTQ? Does being a drag queen disqualify one from holding elected office? I was considering writing RuPaul in on my ballot in November.

Moreover, it doesn’t concern me that Trump sports a vainglorious combover and has a ubiquitous tan from a bottle. These are simply distractions from one’s character, integrity, ethics and political values, not so much a reflection of them. If the prize is to have Trump, and Vance, by extension, relegated to the dustbin of politics, my eyes will remain focused on exposing serious character flaws, anti-democratic proclivities, and self-serving policies that concern me about their fitness for election to the most powerful job in the world.

I could easily stop my trite, self-righteous missive right there but add, importantly, that I also don’t care who judges and ridicules others so long as it’s good-natured, not malicious or designed to seriously impugn one’s otherwise good, imperfect character. I simply wished to posit a cautionary tale about intolerance turning us into them.