I'm a Values Voter, Too

The endorsement of Rudy Giuliani by Pat Robertson is cause for brow-furrowing. Who are these "values voters"?

Actually, I think I can answer that, because I'm a values voter, too.

• I value human lives. Not just American lives but Iraqi and Afghani and Iranian and Sudanese and Mexican and all the others, too.

• I value believers and non-believers, and those who are not quite sure.

• I value human dignity. Wages that leave workers impoverished are not dignified. Countries that leave their citizens hungry and homeless are not dignified.

• I value close, supportive relationships. I don't mean just marital or heterosexual or conjugal relationships. I value friends and relatives, mentors and neighbors.

• I value people who care for others who cannot care for themselves. I try to remember that people who sometimes need help are not just the very young or the very old, and they are not just our children or our parents or our partners.

• I value social, political, and economic justice.

• I value my environment. And yours, too.

• I value health care for children. And adults.

• I value nuance and complexity when used to describe issues that are nuanced and complex.

• I value communities and nations that are committed to building on strengths rather than stigmatizing weaknesses and differences.

• I value peace, safety, and security, and I think that education and openness, in this country and around the globe, are among the roads that will take us there.

I'm a values voter, too. And I'm not voting for Rudy.

Comments

[DougIndeap]

"Dogma voters" is a more fitting label. That some religious sorts dub themselves "values voters" is pretentious to say the least. They confuse religious dogma with human values. I do not.

As an atheist holding values every bit as moral as those espoused by religious folks, I will not stand for them to usurp the term "values" and conflate it with their dogma. If they want to push their dogma, that's their right. But "dogma voters" they are, and that's what I'll call them.

[LeftRight]

Thank you for the post, I've been so angry lately about the term "values voters" since by their definition I don't quality, but by my definition, many, but not all of them, do...

[jazzman]

Who are these value voters? Why, they're hypocrites. They'll cast their so called 'values' into the lake of fire to make sure a Republican gets elected. There's been nothing more phony than the Christian Right. All of those red state, born again, Christians who follow them are either sheeple or hypocrites too.

[realitytrumpsbull]

I don't know whose values exactly, but an
endorsement from the bible-thumpers doesn't
seem to me to be a very good thing, especially
because religious politics is partly behind all
the bullshit that's gone on for the last 7 years. Let's have Big Chief Pointy Hat drop
those books on the table and see what all kind
of subversive shit they've been financing in
foreign countries all over the world. Yes,
the catholics, and the telechurchies, and
the jews, and the muslim people, let's have
allllllll that info right out in front of (wait
for it) GOD and everybody. Knowledge is power,
and knowing what kind of crap goes on in the
back room is key to thwarting evil before it
starts esPECIALLY if it's garbed up in the
Cloth...

[Pdubya]

hear hear! well said. I too, am a value-voter, and I'm voting for Ron Paul. A man with integrity and a record that matches his word - without any lobby influence. No one else can say that. He examples all what you've written in practice and in representation. I've followed his career for sometime, wary of the R he has carried for years. At closer examination though, I realize he is a true conservative, which means to save, not waste. His record on civil liberties is unmatched in it's protection of individual rights and liberty - for all. And for me, it is a huge step to be supporting him given my views, but he is the only one that will protect them.

blue dog dem atheist for ron paul

[Atticus]

Values, like charity, begins at home.

[vietveter]

Under these terms I am also a values voter.

We are in the majority. Too bad there are so few like people to vote for. There is Edwards and ..... Edwards,,,,, and did I mention Edwards?

[UpstateSC]

Great post Bella! The fact is, we are all values voters, but a certain faction has hijacked the term. I like your values - they sound more like Jesus' values than those the "values voters" hold, yet they claim to follow His teachings.