Washington Post conservative commentator George Will raises a complaint I share about the use of the term "values voters" by social conservatives and the media. "This phrase diminishes our understanding of politics," Will wrote. "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."
Will also pondered what qualifies as values. "Freedom and happiness are valuable," he wrote. "Arguably, governmental actions that did much to increase freedom and happiness in the past half-century were state laws liberalizing divorce. These made important contributions to the emancipation of men and especially women from mistaken marriages. Perhaps the most important of these laws — it was among the most liberal and was in the most populous state — was signed by a divorced governor, Ronald Reagan. What do socially conservative values voters make of that?"
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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