Ah Rockstar, look at the wrath you've brought (we're still cool though, I promise). Responding to a questionnaire from the watchdog group Common Sense Media, Hillary Clinton has revealed that she still sees the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas affair as a victory for children across the country. But who is this victory really for? Is it for the children, or rather for the political pundits like Clinton that need "easy" moral issues for the upcoming election?

"When I am President, I will work to protect children from inappropriate video game content," she told CSM.

Oh, stop the presses! Run BIG headlines on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. Hillary Clinton has made it clear America, she's for the children. And if you're FOR children, we have to like you. After all, no legitimate candidate can not claim to do things for the children. Even the North and South agree, children are good.

And, since video games are an inherent evil within our society (like radio, television and rock 'n roll before), the potential leader of the free world needs to comment about her ability to protect children from corrupt companies looking to profit off of minors. Sounds a little like someone else that I remember in the White House from not that long ago.

Who am I thinking of? Oh ya...good ol' Tipper Gore. For those that don't remember her coma-inducing thriller, "From Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society," I'll give you a quick summation from the wife of the man that invented the Internet.

"Like many parents of my generation, I grew up listening to rock music and loving it, watching television and being entertained by it. I still enjoy both. But something has happened since the days of "Twist and Shout" and "I Love Lucy."

This is a book about the kinds of violent and explicit messages our children are receiving through the media and what we as parents can do about it.

I decided to get involved because I began to see the kinds of record lyrics that my children were being exposed to. It shocked me and made me angry. I started looking deeper into the problem, and became even more concerned.

A small but immensely successful minority of performers have pioneered the "porn rock" phenomenon. A Judas Priest song about oral sex at gunpoint sold two million copies. So did Mötley Crüe's album Shout at the Devil, with lyrics like: "Not a woman, but a whore/I can taste the hate/Well, now I'm killing you/Watch your face turning blue." Sheena Easton's "Sugar Walls," about female sexual arousal, was an even bigger hit on Top 40 radio stations. And Prince peddled more than ten million copies of Purple Rain, which included a song about a young girl masturbating in a hotel lobby.

But in virtually every medium, the communications industry offers increasingly explicit images of sex and violence to younger and younger children. In the course of my work, I've encountered a degree of callousness toward children that I never imagined existed. No one asks what is in the product or its effect on kids, only how well it will sell."

Hilary seems to be taking a page right out of of Tipper's book, and trying to play the conservative and concerned parent. It seems like a safe issue for most voters. I'm not going to argue entirely against her moral judgements, as everyone is entitled to their opinion. Rather, in this specific instance, I'll just come out and state:

The CGC is for the children. But, (and here's the awkwardly logical part, sorry Hillary)...we're for smart and informed parents that understand the best ratings system in the entire entertainment industry. Haven't we been over this a thousand times? It sure feels like we have. And, since the CGC hates beating dead horses, we're going to avoid talking about the ESRB any futher.

Yet, it can't be ignored that we've now fully entered a modern and oddly American stigma: Violence in all forms is socially acceptable, but sex is not. Many argue this is a result of how the country was founded, yada yada yada. However, I just don't care about that anymore. We're 7 days from 2008, and the majority of adults continually chose to accept violence and shun sexuality.

Are we just that embarrassed to talk about sex with our kids? Apparently so, as violent movies, violent cartoons, violent games and violent toys have been tolerated for generations. Thongs just got mainstream populariy in the last ten years (about damn time). We Americans love our guns, but we apparently aren't into loving each other. Kind of sick, isn't it? After all, how many times have you heard doctors give advice on "How to talk about sex with your children." Yet, school shootings continue and we don't hear cries for "How to talk about violence with your children," do we?

The concern of rising violence is never a topic that is addressed socially as a critical "must have conversation" for parents and their children. But why not? Maybe it's just overaly accepted that sane adults believe an anti-violence message is being permeated through most American homes. Children are taught in school at a young age that violence is bad, and are appropriately punished when they break the rules. But is this working? There seems to be a double standard at work here.

We've drawn a clear line in our society that states violence is common and accepted (but bad, very bad) while all sex is absolutely taboo and requires secret conversations with tips from professionals that you got while watching Oprah while your kids were at day care. In other words, sex is WORSE than violence. How many parents do you know that except all "M" rated games as long as "there isn't any sex in there." I've heard that one all too often. Try reminding them that:

Movies have sex and violence. LOTS of it.
Music has sex and violence. LOTS of it.
Television has sex and violence. LOTS of it.
Games have violence. LOTS of it. But almost no sex.

If you want to know when video games as a medium have truly matured, look no further. The first game to include genuine, content appropriate sex (sorry Mass Effect, no alien love yet) that is socially acceted will be break new ground for the industry. It will mark a full maturation of the medium, and ideally become less of a hot-button political issue.

Politicians are smart. They know that sex in games is still shunned by the vast majority of Americans. And, until that perspective shifts, we shouldn't expect anything to change. But, I'll sit and wait patiently, since I know we'll have our day in the sun. There will always be a Tipper Gore, a Hilary Clinton. And, there will always be children. We all love the children.

The bigger question is will video games always be treated like the bastard stepchild of the entertainment industry? The good news is not only is it unlikely, but it is a near impossibility.

After all, one day the President of the United States will have grown up playing Grand Theft Auto. I'd recommend you start warming your parents up to the idea now.

It's an inevitability.