Michael Kinsley - Hero of the Day

Michael Kinsley nailed today what I have been trying to express about the whole "moral values" aspect to this election (Perhaps that is why he is the editorial page editor of the LA Times and I am... not).

Here is a snippet:

There's just one little request I have. If it's not too much trouble, of course. Call me profoundly misguided if you want. Call me immoral if you must. But could you please stop calling me arrogant and elitist?

I mean, look at it this way. (If you don't mind, that is.) It's true that people on my side of the divide want to live in a society where women are free to choose and where gay relationships have civil equality with straight ones. And you want to live in a society where the opposite is true. These are some of those conflicting values everyone is talking about. But at least my values — as deplorable as I'm sure they are — don't involve any direct imposition on you. We don't want to force you to have an abortion or to marry someone of the same sex, whereas you do want to close out those possibilities for us. Which is more arrogant?

We on my side of the great divide don't, for the most part, believe that our values are direct orders from God. We don't claim that they are immutable and beyond argument. We are, if anything, crippled by reason and open-mindedness, by a desire to persuade rather than insist. Which philosophy is more elitist? Which is more contemptuous of people who disagree?

My whole problem with the "moral values" argument (besides the fact that its value in winning the election is quite possibly overstated) is that it seems like this revival of religion in American public life is all about the demonization of others, and not social justice.

Think of 2 examples. The civil rights movement was largely led by MLK and other religious leaders. The abolitionist movement was also led by religious leaders (although not completely). These were movements that were about expanding human rights. The current revival is about just the opposite.

Just a thought.

Here is a link to the entire Kinsley piece (Registration required):
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-oe-kinsley7nov07,1,7784296.column?coll=la-sunday-commentary

Here is another link to a site which expands on these thoughts by a professional:
http://markschmitt.typepad.com/decembrist/2004/11/the_right_quest.html