The Myths of the Moral Values
Ever since the elections of a month ago, the buzz words of the political world have been "moral values." Immediately upon seeing the exit polls, which revealed moral values to be ahead of both Iraq and terrorism in importance to voters, the general public jumped on this phrase, proclaiming it to be the secret to all Republican successes.
And, thus enters Clinchy the Superblogger to say... not so fast.
Myth number one... these moral values carried Bush and his fellow Republicans in Congress to victory.
Let's face it. There's a difference between a majority of the people, and a plurality in a seven-way race. Moral values were the top choice of only 22% of the electorate. Not only is 22% a paltry amount of the population, but you have to realize that these are exit polls we're talking about.
Most likely, they are the same exit polls that showed us a clean sweep of Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Iowa, New Mexico, and Colorado. They were 0 for 6 on those; I fail to see why this poll should be treated any differently. A dishonest voter here, a polling error there, and we could easily find that the exit poll data are a few percentage points off. Moral values, for all we know, could have finished third, behind terrorism and jobs.
We live in an era of sensationalism. Every politician, journalist, pundit, speech writer, talk show host, and even... well, blogger... is trying to find his own original scoop. Everyone wants his own slant to take on the news. Unfortunately, upon seeing the results of the 2004 elections, not everyone was successful. People jumped on the "moral values" bandwagon without considering the true meaning of the numbers they were seeing. Which leads me to...
Myth number two. Moral values are The Next Big Thing in our political culture.
Quite the contrary! In fact, the "moral values" portion of the population has been on the decline in recent years. The same polls that showed moral values at the 22% level in 2004 pegged them at a whopping 40% in 1996, and by 2000, they were still holding fairly strong at 35%. The transition from 2000 to 2004 showed a sharp decline for moral values.
The reasons for this are fairly clear. After all, we were attacked on our own soil on September 11, 2001. This immediately brought terrorism to our attention, and it clearly hasn't left yet. Three years isn't nearly enough to wash away the fear brought on by what happened that day.
Add to that the Iraq war, and the recent reforms made in education, Medicare, and of course, taxes, and you have quite the plethora of significant issues on Americans' minds. Why in God's name are "moral values" getting all the hype? The fact of the matter is, we are entering a new era -- one in which rapidly changing domestic policies and a revolutionized outlook on foreign policy are taking priority over "moral values." Moral values had their day; the sun has set.
Not only have "moral values" lost their importance in our society, but the meaning behind the phrase has changed.
Myth number three: gay rights and abortion are the dominant issues incorporated into our moral values.
Fifty-five percent of those polled on Election Day earlier this month said that abortion should be legal. Sixty-one percent favored the extension of the right to either marriage or civil union to same-sex couples.
And yet, in this era of Roe v. Wade threatening and Constitution amending, George W. Bush is still America's choice for president, and he is still dominating the vote among those who emphasize moral values. What does this tell us? Well, for one thing, people have begun to realize that Bush is unlikely to find success in his quest for a Constitutional amendment to define marriage. It is simply unrealistic to expect Bush to find the amount of support he needs to amend the supreme law of the land. It also tells us that people are starting to believe moderates like Senator Arlen Specter, who reminds us that judges seeking to overturn Roe v. Wade will have trouble gaining support in this country.
Moral values in this day and age have taken on a new meaning. People can unite behind George W. Bush's morals for a variety of reasons. For one thing, he's a family man with a amiable personality -- he's easy for Americans to identify with. For another, he's bold, confident, and self-assured -- he's the kind of man with which people feel comfortable. And of course -- he'll never let us forget this one -- we know where he stands.
I'm not trying to support President Bush. As you all probably know, I will be the first to disagree with the man on most issues. However, he has a way with the American people. He knows what they want, and he knows how to present himself in a way that wins support.
Moral values may not be all they're cracked up to be, but still, there's no denying that they have -- if you don't mind me using the other buzz word of this election year -- electability. Just remember to take what you read with a grain of salt. Not all of the hype makes perfect sense.
(Neither does everything I write, but hey. It couldn't hurt to throw one more opinion into the ring.)
And, thus enters Clinchy the Superblogger to say... not so fast.
Myth number one... these moral values carried Bush and his fellow Republicans in Congress to victory.
Let's face it. There's a difference between a majority of the people, and a plurality in a seven-way race. Moral values were the top choice of only 22% of the electorate. Not only is 22% a paltry amount of the population, but you have to realize that these are exit polls we're talking about.
Most likely, they are the same exit polls that showed us a clean sweep of Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Iowa, New Mexico, and Colorado. They were 0 for 6 on those; I fail to see why this poll should be treated any differently. A dishonest voter here, a polling error there, and we could easily find that the exit poll data are a few percentage points off. Moral values, for all we know, could have finished third, behind terrorism and jobs.
We live in an era of sensationalism. Every politician, journalist, pundit, speech writer, talk show host, and even... well, blogger... is trying to find his own original scoop. Everyone wants his own slant to take on the news. Unfortunately, upon seeing the results of the 2004 elections, not everyone was successful. People jumped on the "moral values" bandwagon without considering the true meaning of the numbers they were seeing. Which leads me to...
Myth number two. Moral values are The Next Big Thing in our political culture.
Quite the contrary! In fact, the "moral values" portion of the population has been on the decline in recent years. The same polls that showed moral values at the 22% level in 2004 pegged them at a whopping 40% in 1996, and by 2000, they were still holding fairly strong at 35%. The transition from 2000 to 2004 showed a sharp decline for moral values.
The reasons for this are fairly clear. After all, we were attacked on our own soil on September 11, 2001. This immediately brought terrorism to our attention, and it clearly hasn't left yet. Three years isn't nearly enough to wash away the fear brought on by what happened that day.
Add to that the Iraq war, and the recent reforms made in education, Medicare, and of course, taxes, and you have quite the plethora of significant issues on Americans' minds. Why in God's name are "moral values" getting all the hype? The fact of the matter is, we are entering a new era -- one in which rapidly changing domestic policies and a revolutionized outlook on foreign policy are taking priority over "moral values." Moral values had their day; the sun has set.
Not only have "moral values" lost their importance in our society, but the meaning behind the phrase has changed.
Myth number three: gay rights and abortion are the dominant issues incorporated into our moral values.
Fifty-five percent of those polled on Election Day earlier this month said that abortion should be legal. Sixty-one percent favored the extension of the right to either marriage or civil union to same-sex couples.
And yet, in this era of Roe v. Wade threatening and Constitution amending, George W. Bush is still America's choice for president, and he is still dominating the vote among those who emphasize moral values. What does this tell us? Well, for one thing, people have begun to realize that Bush is unlikely to find success in his quest for a Constitutional amendment to define marriage. It is simply unrealistic to expect Bush to find the amount of support he needs to amend the supreme law of the land. It also tells us that people are starting to believe moderates like Senator Arlen Specter, who reminds us that judges seeking to overturn Roe v. Wade will have trouble gaining support in this country.
Moral values in this day and age have taken on a new meaning. People can unite behind George W. Bush's morals for a variety of reasons. For one thing, he's a family man with a amiable personality -- he's easy for Americans to identify with. For another, he's bold, confident, and self-assured -- he's the kind of man with which people feel comfortable. And of course -- he'll never let us forget this one -- we know where he stands.
I'm not trying to support President Bush. As you all probably know, I will be the first to disagree with the man on most issues. However, he has a way with the American people. He knows what they want, and he knows how to present himself in a way that wins support.
Moral values may not be all they're cracked up to be, but still, there's no denying that they have -- if you don't mind me using the other buzz word of this election year -- electability. Just remember to take what you read with a grain of salt. Not all of the hype makes perfect sense.
(Neither does everything I write, but hey. It couldn't hurt to throw one more opinion into the ring.)
posted by eclinchy at 8:54 PM
1 Comments:
I'm not saying that exit polls are completely bogus. It's just that when you're looking at margins of just one or two points, you can't rely on them.
And by the way... I don't think Bush won on the gay marriage issue. Bush's idea was a constitutional amendment to define marriage... and people know that that has no chance. Rather, there are lots of states'-righters out there in moderate states like Oregon who are voting against gay marriage, but not for Bush's overly aggressive stance on the issue.
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