The Democrats are having post-election anxiety attacks over the moral issues vote to the extent that strategist are planning to somehow put God back in their act, despite 55 million minority voters content with God as a silent partner. This is tantamount to suggesting that because of southern and rural dominance slavery should be reinstated. Some even suggest that Joe Lieberman should have been the nominee, not only that the Jewish vote let down the party, but because his strong faith touches all sects and would have rivaled Bush’s intense beliefs. This, of course, is ridiculous since many Jews sided with Bush because they felt a change of leadership would somehow breakdown the support for Israel, plus anti-Semitism would play a subliminal role as it did for Kerry being a pro-choice Catholic, let alone a “Massachusetts liberal” — and Lieberman a Connecticut Yankee. Massachusetts also did great harm to Kerry by its court decision to acknowledge gay marriage even though more recently overturned by state legislation.

Democrats should calm down and build a counterattack on the Republican Machiavellian strategy which shamelessly exploits God, such as cleverly getting on the ballot of crucial states amendments to ban gay marriages, parental consent for teenage abortions, and anti-immigration, the last of which Republicans knew that many Hispanics, predominantly Catholic opposing homosexuality and abortion, would not be deterred from voting Republican. The counter strategy should be that — as Kerry himself made clear, even though an overwhelming majority of Democrats are against abortion and gay marriage, but not civil union — the better plan is to deny the linguistic “marriage” and “pro-abortion” and inscribe “civil unions” and “pro-choice” but accept these as living facts and make every effort to discourage them without decidedly stripping away individual choice and God-given right to free will and conscience. Nor should they demean states that favor banning gay marriage that stipulates acknowledgment of civil unions across state lines. Nor should they accept a poor second to championing family values. They must remind the electorate that it was Clinton that pushed for the ‘V’ chip and computer password for parental control. They must remind the electorate that it was big business that was responsible for the Janet Jackson exposure, and why Coors lost his senate seat because of his company’s approval of raunchy beer ads. They must be convincing in noting that it was the founding fathers who stressed the need for separation of church and state that secured freedom of worship but not the right to make public policy. Finally they must not accept that sex, violence, gambling and drugs were invented by the Democratic Party, nor accept that these extreme indulgences are practiced exclusively by liberals. That these issues exist is not owing to a liberal society but rather the price to pay for constitutional freedom and surely preferable to Ayatollah-like solutions.

That said, the Democrats cannot get hung up on “morality,” lest they lose focus on values that matter more: growing a greater middle class, discouraging nuclear proliferation, disallowing preventive war without overt threat, embracing faith-based organizations that do good without ulterior motives, developing smarter diplomatic relations, setting a goal for energy and industrial independence, declaring presidential election day a national holiday and limiting ballot entries to federal offices only, thus relegating state and local positions, including governorship, amendments, and other state issues to another day and thus eliminating horrendous waiting time in lines — some of which were extended up to nine hours. Furthermore, the DNC must show its ethics by prohibiting affiliation with pork and big time spending lobbyists and by welcoming non-profit citizen groups lobbying for the common good. Nancy Pelosi in consultation with the DNC should define requirements for the presidential candidates before allowing anyone to throw in the hat. These candidates must be scandal-free sexually and financially, must show a strong belief in free enterprise but with a high mindedness to do battle against unseemly behemoth-behaviors in Wall Street, corporations and unions that tear the fabric of enlightened capitalism aimed at producing wealth and general welfare. They should be neither for nor against guns, other than protecting the laws already in effect and endorsing a defense against crime by buttressing widespread law enforcement and by increasing “cops on the street,” equipping them accordingly. There should be no litmus test to measure the quality of religion within the candidate, but surely the candidate must be able to reflect values that clearly send the message of tolerance and be ready to defend the separation of church and state, preventing an imbalance of either.

Fund-raising is a definite moral issue and shall be the exclusive responsibility of DNC which must strongly push for greater federal campaign revenue, along with launching the official campaign one month prior to the Iowa caucus. The DNC must also disassociate itself from 527s and urge that if they must exist that they be fact check groups that air the issues impartially.

Finally, the moral gap between the parties is a result of a strong assault a on the wisdom of the founding fathers without a strong defense in support of that wisdom aimed to create a secular environment for the development of family and national values through common sense and reason.

Copyright © 2004 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: November 5, 2004.

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