A Moral Monopoly

12-1-2004 - 5:03 p.m.

As the reality of the 2004 election sinks in, we’ve heard a lot from the TV pundits about the “moral values” voters. The story goes that these conservative, Christian voters provided just enough strength to the Republican party for a small (but undeniable) edge of the Democrats. Who are these “moral values” voters? Images are conjured up of a humble, rural people—rising up from some unknown mining town or long-forgotten farming community—voting to revive an idyllic American past. We picture grandma and grandpa, lining up at the polls to somehow rescue America from debauchery. “Pro-Family”. “Pro-Life”. “Pro-Apple Pie”. How can the country say no to that? Who wouldn’t jump on this idealistic political bandwagon? Who doesn’t want to be considered someone who votes based on moral values?

I realized something this morning as I was walking to work—I am a “moral values” voter—and I proudly voted for John Kerry. I voted based on the values I got from my small-town upbringing. I voted based on the values I learned from my Sunday school teachers and the weekly Presbyterian sermons I attended. I voted based on the values I got from my middle-class upbringing. I voted based on the values I learned as a student in a public university. All of these influences acted to make me unabashedly liberal, and I can’t figure out why the same doesn’t hold true for all of my small-town counterparts.

Why are my moral values being overlooked and belittled by the media and Conservatives? Watching the news, one would think that the only Americans with “values” voted for Bush. I voted for Kerry because I value peace. I voted for Kerry because I find poverty, hunger and inequality immoral. I voted for Kerry because I value fiscal responsibility and diplomacy. I voted for Kerry because I shudder at the thought of imposing my exact set of values on an entire nation of very different people. My values are just as legitimate as the values of the Christian right, so why is no one recognizing them?

The short answer is this: Karl Rove. The long answer is that by defining Bush voters as those with moral values, the Republican political machine has cleverly and calculatedly defined Democrats—by default—as immoral. Just as they have with so many issues, the Bush administration has made the 2004 election about Good vs. Evil. And what American wants to be on the side of evil? As the nightly news programs continue to subtly drill this message into the heads of the American public, I am becoming more and more convinced that my “moral values” won’t matter much in 2008, either. By that time, American values will be strictly defined as those of the conservative Christian Right. And that breaks this small-town girl’s heart.

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