Subject: Commentary on Kemp ... by Allen Ritter
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 1996 16:34:32 -0400

A Commentary by
Allen Ritter
DC AIDS Activist

KEMP, KEMP, KEMP...
    ....WHO CARES!!!!!!!!!

 As a modern day Jesus to Bob Dole's lazerus, the ubiquitious Kemp has
arrived just in time to revive the morbid Dole campaign. Kemps' inner party
support, though, is not shared by the millions of AIDS supporters who only
know him as the Secretary of Housing under George Bush.
  As Secretary, he issued a memorandum saying: that AIDS didn't qualify as a
"Permanent Disability" under the rules for the disabled part of the McKinney
Housing Act. The logic being that AIDS,is not a permanent disability, because
PLWA's die too fast. Imagine, coverage for housing is denied because a class
of human beings dies to fast! This unconscionable attitude is deserving of
much outrage and action. But in a climate of Psuedo Clintonian liberalism and
Buchanan neo-fascism, it is easy to understand how an AIDS reactionary such
as Kemp could be mistaken for a new, moderate Republikkkan. The old
labels,originating from a center-left origin, have less meaning because the
center is now intellectually and culturally in the hands of the
neo-conservatives.
 A movement which combines traditional economic liberalism, of individual
responsibility and free markets with the conservative morality of family
rooted in a mystical western God.  This union combines the tradition of
western religion, with the amoral economics of "freetrade".  In the process,
the modern American dual nature is satisfied, unlimited greed is accomodated
in its support of the family. For those who do not belong to this global
"family", we are to be sacrificed through budget cuts, which will be needed
to balance huge tax cuts.
  A wake up call needs to go out to the so-called, Queer and progressive
leadership in America. Change is coming and it will be directed by either
Republicans or Democrats! Wake up Elizabeth Birch and Melinda Paras, it is
not Kemp who is "changing welfare as we know it," institutionalizing
heterosexuality with marriage, and denying needle exchange as a part of
Universal health care. It is Bill Clinton! Clinton and his New Democrats must
be held equally responsible for the right ward push in American politics.
This was made possible by the Conservative themes resonating through the
Clinton campaign of 1992. You reap what you sow! 
 They ruined healthcare by siding with the health insurance lobby against
single payer and the AIDS activists. And by following the failed leadership
of David Mixner and his advice on the Gays in the military.
  This can only be reversed with new, progressive Queer leadership.
Leadership which demands action on a agenda of equality in healthcare,
housing, and civil rights for all people, especially people with AIDS. The
Democrats then must take our people and our agenda seriously, if not, then
what happened in 1994 would be repeated in 1996. We sit out this election and
begin to organize a movement which starts to solve the multifaceted problems
we face living inside the United States of America.
   For those who think this would be counterproductive, they must view the
success of the Bukhanistas in San Diego.  The nominee may be Dole but the
agenda is pure Pat. It has taken many years of challenging the liberal
Republican establishment in bringing about this metamorphosis of the
political discourse. For example, in 1988 Kemp and Anti-Gay Bob Danneymeyer
attempted to repeal the D.C. AIDS Insurance Bill and attempted to pass
legislation that mandated the reporting of names of HIV+ people. The latter
in the case of infants, was passed in the 1996 appropriation of Ryan White,
signed by Bill Clinton.
 This organized movement to the right must be addressed with action and not
words. We must get our own house in order before we can expect equal
treatment from our friends or our enemies.  If this change does not happen on
the left, then the press reports in 2000 will marvel over how moderate and
energetic is candidate Bukkkanan, while ignoring whats left of the so-called
left.

(Ritter is a DC based AIDS activist and community developer, a founder of the
Phoenix Project and is a member of the AIDS Cure Campaign.  He can be reached
at 202.584.4585)