Values, Values, Values

If I have one beef with the Democratic Party (and trust me, I have more like a herd of cows) it is their apparent lack of values. Liberals have the tendency to confuse values with policy positions. Is it a value to believe in public access to Social Security? No, the value is that liberals believe that government should act as a social safety net, providing such programs as Social Security and Medicare to the elderly. Is it a value to be pro-choice? No, the value is individual liberties (typically a conservative value). Democrats have done a poor job framing their policy positions in the context of over-arching values. And what is the result of this?

1) Democrats are afraid to talk about "values." Republicans are seen as the party of values. How is that possible? How is anyone in American against "family values"? No one is, yet the Republicans have used the Democrats lack of articulate values to frame them as "anti-family values." The Democrats don't fight the issue but instead try to see themselves as pro-choice and pro-gay marriage instead of looking at it as a fight over "individual liberty" and "equality of law."

2) The Democrat Party is internally less cohesive because shared values don't align with shared policy prescriptions. The Democratic Party, under FDR, was a "blanket party" that combined fiscal conservatives, social liberals, southerners and northerners. Now, the activist Democrat (the one most likely to vote in the primary and volunteer on a campaign) looks down upon those in their party that are pro-life, fiscally conservative, don't vote for an immediate withdrawal and why? Because the entry fee to the Democratic Party is not shared values but shared policy positions. A Democrat running for office must fill out a questionnaire that details their positions on certain issues, but there is not litmus test to judge their values set. The process is backwards. The precursor to running for office must be shared values that translate into policy proposals instead of policy positions that inform ones values.

3) Policy debates are less democratic. If the litmus test for being a Democratic office-holder is a set of policy positions then where is the debate? The debate is black and white. Either you support position A or you're not a qualified Democrat. However, if the Democrat office-holders all agree that "every child should have a quality education," then debate can exist on how to achieve this end.

Ends were made to right this wrong in 2006. Rahm Emanuel and Charles Schumer, chairs of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, respectively, made an effort to recruit conservative candidates (like Bob Casey and Jon Tester). The result was that the Democratic Party is not longer as single-minded. The process must continue and intensify. The Democrats have a great chance to make some headway in the mountain West in the coming election, but they must be willing to accept candidates that disagree with their litmus test issues. Instead, the questions must revolve around: what are the values that make you a Democrat?

It must be remembered that until 1948, the Democratic Party was compromised of Northeastern liberals, southern conservatives, the unionist Midwesterners, plain state farmers, minorities and intellectuals. They all could exist under the blanket of the Democratic Party because they all believed that government was a force for good. And because of that shared value we were brought out of the Great Depression and successfully fought World War II.

We can achieve this again.

-Wyatt Earp