To The "Moral Values" Crowd

OK. I get it. We get it.

I always thought it was kitschy and quaint, this idea of moral values being important. I thought, we thought, that it was this mildly annoying block of red voters that were unwilling to change, unwilling to examine the issues, unwilling to make an informed decision. Yes, they were votes to be overcome, but the numbers were easily surmountable.

I, we, all get it now. Those of us who consider ourselves reasoned, intelligent, educated people, liberals because liberal is where education and knowledge unavoidably leads us, we see the light. When we abandoned “liberal” for the now-less-pejorative “progressive,” we didn’t get it. But we do now, and since I do get it, I am once again proud to call myself a “liberal.” Even though I'm actually likely not, or maybe just a little. You think that’s a bad thing? In America, that’s your right.

We understand now the words Mark McKinnon said to Ron Suskind:

''You think [President Bush] is an idiot, don't you? ...you do, all of you do, up and down the West Coast, the East Coast, a few blocks in southern Manhattan called Wall Street. Let me clue you in. We don't care. You see, you're outnumbered 2 to 1 by the
folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don't read The New York Times or Washington Post or The L.A. Times. And you know what they like? They like the way he walks and the way he points, the way he exudes confidence. They have faith in him. And when you attack him for his malaprops, his jumbled syntax, it's good for us. Because you know what those folks don't like? They don't like you!''

We dismissed McKinnon when we read that, but we don’t now. We see that you are legion.

You are out there, and 58 million of you voted Tuesday, chose to make “moral values” the central issue of the election, not the bungling of Iraq, the deceit and secrecy of this administration, not the economy, or health care, or loyalty oaths, or energy policy. You felt that moral values were the central issue to this campaign. Fine. Nothing wrong with that.

But let me tell you now, it doesn’t matter to me if you are 58 million, or 100 million, or 299 million. I don’t care. If I was the last human being on the planet holding out for liberal values, I still don’t care. Stone me, marginalize me, dismiss me, eradicate me. Your moral values would probably command it. But whatever you do, I will never accept your worldview. Mainly because of one thing it doesn’t have: real moral values.

So you want to make moral values the issue of 2004? How about the value of duty? One thing is certain, no matter how John Kerry got injured, no matter where he was Christmas Eve, no matter how he got injured to earn three Purple Hearts: he got the injuries in Vietnam. He was in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War. He served in combat. And if he did bump anyone else in line for Vietnam, I don’t think anyone has a problem with that. When America asked for sacrifice, he was willing to take that risk.

And what of the value of conscience? When he had heard horror stories of the war in Vietnam, he felt the need to speak out against what was then and still is considered today to be an unjust war. He would not stand idly by while men in power abused that power to terrible results. He showed conscience. And he made it clear that though he won’t hesitate to use American military force to secure freedom and safety for Americans, he wouldn’t do it if he genuinely feels more diplomatic solutions are available. Last resort, not carelessly, on “bad intelligence” (mad belligerence is more like it).

How about the moral value of leadership? The kind that stands before a democracy openly and honestly makes policy, earnestly creates alliances, tells the people the truth? Not the misleading, obfuscational nonsense that seeks to divide and demoralize the electorate, to paralyze the sovereign voter with fear, to whitewash the real issues? One candidate had that leadership. He showed it in 1971. In 1984. In 1991. In 2002. In 2004. And especially, yesterday morning.

Honesty, openness, integrity. Diversity, acceptance, tolerance. Those are moral values. Peacemaking. Charity. Love.

Enfranchisement.

You see, those are my moral values. To me, and to all the other people in America who are now ready to proudly take back “liberal” for themselves, those are the real moral values. Real moral values to us, they don’t equal where someone puts his genitals, or who he allows to do the putting. Real moral values are a hell of a lot more than that. Real moral values include caring for your fellow man, no matter his race or creed. Respecting people’s privacy in their own homes, when consenting adults are involved. Providing a helping hand to those less fortunate. Basically, believing in what Jesus taught, much more than the sweet fairy tale literally shackled to your mentality, or the divisive, bigoted fear-based authoritarian you cling to like religious heroin. That’s the junk your leadership has been shoveling on you for years. And somehow it worked. Apparently, we can get fooled again.

You think we don’t get you. Tuesday, you were right. Today, different story. Times change, circumstances change, people change. You and your beloved leader would be wise to understand that. Because, you see, while we finally get you, see you, comprehend you, understand you, you still just don’t get us. The difference is that you don’t want to. You are much happier just to go on not liking us, believing in your moral superiority, just like Mark McKinnon says. But he’s only half right. See, we are legion too. And we are getting stronger. Every day the scales fall from the eyes of those who would despise us or look indifferently on us or simply tolerate us, and they become us. They see the difference more and more each day between talking about a vague undefined idea of moral values, and standing up for the real moral values they can clearly identify. They finally tire of the stonewalling and fear-mongering of your conversation, and they see the world for what it is: a search for truth, not a prepackaged snake-oil sales pitch of truth.

We just didn’t show up.

But that won’t happen again. The stakes were too high Tuesday, but they are even higher now. Because now, our very democracy is at stake. Our freedom of speech, of thought, of dissent, is surely about to be assailed. Our civil liberties are at stake. And of all my set of moral values, civil liberties is the biggest for me. For a lot of us. Lucky for you. Because if it weren’t, you could never have become legion in the first place. If I and my liberal allies were the closed-minded, self-interested, dissent-crushing kettle that your pot calls us, it would have been done already. But we afford you your civil rights. Not because we agree with you, not because your cause has merit, not because you are somehow superior to us. You’re not. But we give you the microphone because it is your right. But I will tell you now, we are no longer going to allow you to forget that it is our right just as much as yours.

You got us, you got us good. We overestimated ourselves, and we underestimated you. So enjoy your victory. While you whoop it up, we’re back at work, building our legion, growing every day. And if your leadership doesn’t see that, they will be relegated to the margins of history. Because there’s a rematch coming, we won’t underestimate you again, and we’ve already got the date circled on the calendar.

Your leaders wanted a culture war, well, they got it. Maybe you want one too. Maybe you think your moral values give you moral authority to define freedom, liberty, and justice in America. Maybe you think we still just don’t get it, and that we still don’t get you. Maybe you still believe that you’ve got our number, that we’ll roll over again. In that case, I have just three words for you.

Bring It On.