Musings On Values

by John M Gessell

Karl Rove is reported saying that "moral values" swept Bush back for a second term. Maureen Dowd writes in her column (NYTimes 12xi04), "it never seems to occur to the president that it's immoral to endanger our troops in a war shaped by the political clock, a war with no visible enemy, no coherent plan and no exit timetable..." Dowd puts her finger on the incoherence in political discussion today.

Is there a "values voters" myth? It's not so simple as that because, among other things, Bush supporters do not seem to grasp the subtleties of axiology, do not see the ambiguities, as Maureen Dowd points out.

Evidently the radical right from which much of Bush's support arises is energized by only four issues simplistically perceived. These are gay marriage, abortion, school prayer, and environmentalism. In terms of "values" these issues should translate into civil rights, women's right of decision over their future, respect of religious belief, and stewardship of God's limited resources and respect for our progeny. But the values voters myth turns them into wedge issues in the battle for control of the public square and as propaganda for the engendering of fear. The exploitation by the Republican administration of the attacks of 9/11 manipulates an external threat to public order to buttress their own authority. Fear is engendered to gain political support.

So it is that a clear-headed analysis of the results of the recent election reveals that there is no values voters myth. As NYTimes columnist Bob Herbert points out, the incoherence of the political debate and discussion in the run up to November 2 suggests that "a case could be made that ignorance played at least as big a role in the election's outcome as values."

If "values" were really at the center of the election discourse, the issues which so excite the right-wing politicians and the radical religious fundamentalists would not be heralded as control issues but as human values worthy of a free society -- tolerance, acceptance, understanding, welcome, inclusion, respect for individual differences. Instead we are treated to hostility, exclusion, denial of civil liberties, and religious bigotry. What kind of values are these? Not the kind for the building of a democratic culture the administration so wishes to impose on its enemies in the Middle East.

Think about it. Here is an administration that insisted on launching an illegal, preemptive war, contrary to international and national law, together with violations of the Geneva Conventions. It lied about having evidence of Iraq's stockpile of weapons of mass destruction and its support of al-Quaeda and terrorist activity and at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. It has engaged in cronyism and corruption. It has made millions of workers ineligible for overtime pay and has seen a net loss of nearly one million jobs over its four-year term. It has underfunded the No Child Left Behind Act. Since Bush took office more than 5 million people have lost their health care insurance, and the price of prescription drugs has risen catastrophically. The administration has gutted clean-air standards and has rolled back safety regulations, and the protection of millions of acres of public lands.

What kind of values are these? Voters for Bush implicitly endorsed these values along with the extreme right-wing values of the religious fundamentalists that constitute Bush's political base. These are not the values of a free and democratic society, nor expressions of concern for the weak and the vulnerable members of our community, the concern for which is the sign of a healthy religious society.

An alternative vision for America was enunciated by Martin Luther King, Jr, when he called on people to work to overcome the nation's ills out of their impulse of religious faith. It is love, he said, which is "that force which all the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life." These are values worth voting for.

[COVENANT, Number 19, January 2005]

The Revd Dr John Gessell is professor emeritus of Christian Ethics, School of Theology, University of the South, Sewanee, and consultant to the editor.