Friday, November 05, 2004
Moral Values?
A small plurality of Bush voters (35%) named "moral values" as the most important issue in the election in the exit polls. As a result buckets of electrons and ink are now being splashed to say that gay marriage, abortion, and the Christian right were the significant factors in the election.
I wasn't polled. Had I been, I would have also answered "moral values". But not because of gay marriage, abortion, or Christianity. I tend to be a strict constitutionalist -- those things are not the affairs of the federal government.
However, I want my president to be what my father would have called "an honorable man". That implies a lot of things -- but at least one of them is honesty.
At some point near the end of the campaign, someone said in response to a claim that Bush was mixing church and state , "But what about Kerry? He is going to all those black churches and campaigning from the pulpit, talking about being an altar boy, and all that stuff..."
The reply was "Yeah. But everybody knows he doesn't mean it." I agreed with a chuckle. So did everybody I related the story to.
I would be happy with an atheist as President, an agnostic, a Jew, a Catholic, a Moslem or a tub thumping Baptist. A Wiccan might be stretching it. But I want them to be honest about it. No pretenses. That's a moral value. Bush had it. Kerry didn't.
Doing what you say you will do is also a moral value. So are small things like courtesy and manners. Those who do not think that Bush's response in the debates to the "strong woman" question did not reflect moral value missed something.
I suspect "moral values" meant something else to the respondents to the poll than what the political mavens are now making them out to be.
Which group of voters had "moral values" as their most important issue by a large margin -- in fact a majority (57%)?. Nader voters. I don't think that they were reflecting on gay marriage, abortion, or Christianity.
A small plurality of Bush voters (35%) named "moral values" as the most important issue in the election in the exit polls. As a result buckets of electrons and ink are now being splashed to say that gay marriage, abortion, and the Christian right were the significant factors in the election.
I wasn't polled. Had I been, I would have also answered "moral values". But not because of gay marriage, abortion, or Christianity. I tend to be a strict constitutionalist -- those things are not the affairs of the federal government.
However, I want my president to be what my father would have called "an honorable man". That implies a lot of things -- but at least one of them is honesty.
At some point near the end of the campaign, someone said in response to a claim that Bush was mixing church and state , "But what about Kerry? He is going to all those black churches and campaigning from the pulpit, talking about being an altar boy, and all that stuff..."
The reply was "Yeah. But everybody knows he doesn't mean it." I agreed with a chuckle. So did everybody I related the story to.
I would be happy with an atheist as President, an agnostic, a Jew, a Catholic, a Moslem or a tub thumping Baptist. A Wiccan might be stretching it. But I want them to be honest about it. No pretenses. That's a moral value. Bush had it. Kerry didn't.
Doing what you say you will do is also a moral value. So are small things like courtesy and manners. Those who do not think that Bush's response in the debates to the "strong woman" question did not reflect moral value missed something.
I suspect "moral values" meant something else to the respondents to the poll than what the political mavens are now making them out to be.
Which group of voters had "moral values" as their most important issue by a large margin -- in fact a majority (57%)?. Nader voters. I don't think that they were reflecting on gay marriage, abortion, or Christianity.
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