Conservative political columnist George Will, like me, is a life-long Cub fan. That's usually where our agreements end. We were both frustrated by a crushing Chicago loss Thursday. To get over my frustration, I read political news on the net to get over my frustration. I found that Will and I share another annoyance.
In a Washington Post column in 2006, Will wrote: " An aggressively annoying new phrase in America's political lexicon is "values voters." It is used proudly by social conservatives, and carelessly by the media to denote such conservatives."
The rest of Will's column, written before the Foley-Vitter-Craig scandals, is linked here. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/17/AR2006051701874.html
He takes issue with social conservatives, the media, candidates and interest groups for using the label -- values voters -- either proudly or carelessly.
In all the pride that comes wih hosting a major political event in the 2008 Presidential campaign, The Values Voter Presidential Debate and Straw Poll will be held on Sept. 17 in Florida (interesting...). The V2 claims to be "the largest voting block in America." http://www.valuesvoterdebate.com/
To paraphrase Will, "Duh!" Aren't all of us who vote, Values Voters? We all value something, somethings more than others, as you should have got out of class on Thursday. Freedom and happiness are values to all. But they can be very different values. For example, it might make me very happy if we banned the freedoms of people to own assualt weapons. Many conservative followers of Will, would probably disagree with me.
Still the labeled "Values Voters" will be watched closely -- especially in light of Republican scandals. Will they stay home next November, or even go Blue as suggested in this article covering Democrats' religious push. http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A32589 .
Democratic candidates apparently didn't pandor, deciding not to accept invitations to come to the "Value Voters" planned party. But Greg Hambrick reports that Barack Obama has a national faith outreach coordinator. Hilary Clinton has also talked about faith on the campaig trail. She has a steering committee that distributes a weekly wrap-up called, "Faith, Family and Values."
So could the "Value Voters" be converted to the Democratic side of the aisle? Or would that be too weird?
Like an anti-gay legislation Senator playing footsie in the men's room.
3 comments:
Ok, yeah the democrats should add "value voters" to thier side of the isle. One reason democrats never win the south is the fact that they aren't seen as very religious, which is a key factor in the south. If democrats, much like barack obama, who said in one of the debates I saw, about roe v wade, "That's a decision made by a woman, her doctor, and her priest". By adding religion to the list campaign tricks, democrats can more easily connect with voters who feel that religion is a large part of thier lives.
Although I understand the influence and power the "value voters" faction may have on a national election, I am disgusted with their arrogant opinion. How can one sect of political opinion define their beliefs as the values of our nation, when it is a primary characteristic of America to having diverse opinions?
The "value voters" should have picked a different name. They're one of the "diverse opinion" groups that Jack talks about, and as such they do have a right to rally and do whatever else, but it frustrates me that they feel the need to form this group in the first place. I think they're making themselves look like Crusaders - and that's not a good image to have now that we're not Europeans in the Middle Ages. I'm a Christian and my faith is very important to me. But these people make God smaller - they're asking God to endorse a candidate as if he needs a certain person in office to accomplish his work. And what they - or their candidate - do will almost certainly be a bad reflection on their (my) faith.
I don't want to get into a religious spiel so I'll move on. I think it's very possible that many conservatives/religious voters will vote democratic in the next election, particularly given the way Republicans seem to have managed to botch their image in numerous ways in a remarkably short amount of time. And the Democrats have carefully modified their image to appeal to the more religious groups of America while still catering to liberal groups. If a Democratic candidate gets into office, the compromises will be interesting. People won't be willing to postpone decisions on certain controversial issues much long.
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