Who Isn’t a “Values Voter?”
By Dennis Sanders | Related entries in Smart Things Said By Smart PeopleI ran accross a great column by George Will, that busts the myth of the so-called “values voter.” Actually, it’s not that he busts the myth, it’s that he believes we all vote our values. Here are some choice quotes:
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.
This phrase diminishes our understanding of politics. It also is arrogant on the part of social conservatives and insulting to everyone else because it implies that only social conservatives vote to advance their values and everyone else votes to . . . well, it is unclear what they supposedly think they are doing with their ballots.
Agreed. Some of my liberal friends vote because of their beliefs on poverty or budget issues and they will say it’s because of moral reasons. Sounds like a values voter to me. Will continues:
Conservatives should be wary of the idea that when they talk about, say, tax cuts and limited government — about things other than abortion, gay marriage, religion in the public square and similar issues — they are engaging in values-free discourse. And by ratifying the social conservatives’ monopoly of the label “values voters,” the media are furthering the fiction that these voters are somehow more morally awake than others.
Today’s liberal agenda includes preservation, even expansion, of the welfare state in its current configuration in order to strengthen an egalitarian ethic of common provision. Liberals favor taxes and other measures to produce a more equal distribution of income. They may value equality indiscriminately, but they vote their values.
Among the various flavors of conservatism, there is libertarianism that is wary of government attempts to nurture morality and there is social conservatism that says unless government nurtures morality, liberty will perish. Both kinds of conservatives use their votes to advance what they value.
I think Will is correct in blaming the media for falling into this use of “values voter” to describe only social conservatives, when most of us vote our values. No vote in my view is value-free, so why let one group hog all the “values?”
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 18th, 2006 and is filed under Smart Things Said By Smart People. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
We all vote based on values or lack thereof or our degree of seperation between competing values, exc. Maybe, “value voters” is better termed “morality voters” or “religious voters”.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
liberty vs. equality: both are values, and they often conflict with eachother. When they do, which side do you come down on favoring over the other?
May 18th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
liberty vs. inequality: both are values, and they often conflict with eachother. When they do, which side do you come down on favoring over the other?
May 18th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
A refreshing post, by the way.
May 19th, 2006 at 10:11 am
“Maybe, “value votersâ€Â? is better termed “morality votersâ€Â? or “religious votersâ€Â?.”
Those terms are just as deceiving as “values voters”. Believe it or not, some people believe that sticking your head into the private lives of others is immoral and constantly lying and hiding the truth behind “classified” labels is immoral. Believe it or not, some religious people believe in “let he who has not sinned cast the first stone” and of the many messages of seeking peaceful solutions to conflict in the Bible, as well of leaving judgement to God.
May 19th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Here’s my re-posting of the comment that bastard, Justin, deleted.
The day after the 2004 election, I had a conversation with a repub friend who told me he was glad that people went out and “voted their values.” I told him that I too voted my values, but he gave me the “yeah, but your values include killing babies, allowing degenerate sex practices, and not supporting the troops” look. After giving that look, he indeed told me that he assumed those were the “values” of anyone who opposed Bush. (We’re not friends anymore.)
I also said in my post to Dos that his “We all vote based on values or lack thereof” comment reminded me of that conversation. I absolutely have values, they are just not the same as yours. I could say that I think you people have a lack of values, but that would be silly, wouldn’t it?
As I said to my ex-friend, I will say to Dos and everyone else: If I am going to hell, please allow me to go there without commentary on my “lack of values.” Surely, if I’m going to hell, I don’t need someone to tell me that I have a “lack of values.”
May 19th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
“Surely, if I’m going to hell, I don’t need someone to tell me that I have a “lack of values.â€Â?
Don’t worry Meredith; there’s no room for you. The place is full of Pharisees like your ex-friend.
March 9th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
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