"Values": polite euphemism/code word for "bigotry".

[KamaAina]

And I can prove it.

Ten or twelve years ago I was involved in a local election in New Orleans. The candidate I supported is openly gay. Under Louisiana's byzantine election system, he ended up in a runoff with a prissy little repuke pill (though the race itself was nonpartisan).

All of a sudden Ms. Repuke Pill came up with a new campaign slogan. Now that her only opponent wasthe gay guy, her new slogan was:

(drum roll please)

"Traditional Values Make The Difference".

Translation: "Don't vote for the faggot."

Alas, traditional bigotry, um, er, values :puke: made the difference then just as they do now. La Pill du Repuke ended up on the city council while my friend (a stem-winding political speaker from the old school) retreated into obscurity. :(

[Shredr]

1. It's all fear-based

They just feed off the fear. Fear of the unknown, the other. Where we try to enlighten and educate.

[Lorien]

4. Fear IS the issue, not values, not gay marriage

Fear of terrorism. Don't let the corporate media tell you it was anything else. Just remember the ads.

[Frangible]

2. I agree completely

But I don't think we can change people's minds on this issue enough for the 2008 election. It's something that needs to be addressed eventually, but I think it will be a scarlet letter for us in the near-future.

[donhakman]

3. The people have spoken

[sangh0]

5. Bullshit

My values are not code words for bigotry and neither are yours.

[Vickers]

6. You are not lookng at this in the context it was presented

Read it again.

Not YOUR values, but the word "values" when used in Repuke campaigns is code for bigotry-based stupidity.

[sangh0]

9. Then I apologize

KamaAina, I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions

[Guaranteed]

8. But theirs are. nt

[central scrutinizer]

7. exactly, "values" has replaced

"states rights" and "law and order" as the new code words for bigotry and hate.

[Goldmund]

10. Absolutely true

The conservatives have framed this into a "has values" vs. "has no values" debate -- and the Democrats have been unsuccesful in fighting it because they try to avoid the values issues at all costs. And in the minds of many, the Democratic argument became "well, OK, we don't have values, but we'll make the economy better!".

The whole pattern is parallel to "with us or against us", "good vs. evil", black/white Republican rhetoric. There is only one set of values. You either have it, or you don't.

Until the Democrats ASSERT THEIR OWN VALUES, not cede that the only possible values are those of the KKK, er, RNC, they will get their asses kicked in the values debate.

[Guaranteed]

11. We should have embraced it. They were encroaching on our turf.

Should have called them bigots.

[Goldmund]

12. Yes

and should have called themselves "liberals". No ifs, ands or buts -- not "well, Jim, if by 'liberal' you mean blablabla, then I'm a liberal" -- but "Yes, I'm a liberal, and proud of it. Fucking period.".

In the short-term, it will cost us votes. But that's exactly the problem the Dems have had: playing in the short term. The conservatives have been incredibly effective at making the liberals shy away from the "L"-word, and therefore de facto being on the defensive on values issues.

"Yes, we're liberals. It sounds bad to you now, we know. But give us a chance to re-frame what this word means."

It may take us a year, or two or six. But otherwise, even the candidates we do manage to elect will not govern with issues that are important to us in mind, and the slide to fascism will continue.