Kos on Retaking the Language of Values
I agree almost 100%:
It wasn't the war or the economy that killed us. It was the notion of "values".We need to redefine the language and retake the debate. It's far preferable to joining the earth-is-flatters and the my-wommins-sposed-to-be-my-punchin-bag and the gays-make-good-target-practice types. I refuse to do that. So do you.
Massachusetts has the lowest divorce rate in the nation, yet Kerry was bad because he had "Massachusetts values" or other such nonesense.
We need to retake the language. We need to reframe the notion of "value".
That's why Obama's speech below is so brilliant. He speaks of God in a way that not just fails to offend this atheist, but inspires me. It's faith used for the purpose of living a good life, rather than faith wielded as a weapon against a whole class of people.
The wedges: gays, abortion, and guns.
Democrats have abandoned guns as an issue, and over the next three or four cycles it will prove an increasingly ineffective wedge. The NRA won. Good for them.
That leaves the two "faith based" wedges -- gays and abortion. And with great skill, the Republicans have equated those two issues with the word "value".
That's going to have to change.
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