Give you a hint: It has nothing to do with families
For those old enough to remember the great feud that grew out of then Vice-President Dan Quayle criticizing the character Murphy Brown for having a baby and not being married; as the whole thing grew into a national debate when it should not even have been discussed.
The thing is, that Republicans are so enthralled in defining “FAMILY VALUES” as those things that are sexually outside of their norm; it has to do with passing judgment and with imposing on others their concepts of sexuality, relationships and even the definition of family…so what does then is “Family values” as seen by Republican-Teahadists?
The answer is absolutely nothing that helps families; zilch efforts to make lives easier for the middle class and on top of that they are mounting on the debt and having the poor and middle class pay for it while taxes are cut on the rich and the corporations…Is that a family value?
The rich don’t have to worry about being ostracized or even criticized for their behavior; after all, they are rich and they can marry and divorce as they see fit…extramarital affairs, same sex relationships, even some of the most bizarre of sexual practices can be indulged if you are rich enough…and you will get away with it.
I remember how I used to think about it back then: When Howard Hughes grew his hair and a beard, looked scraggly and dirty…everyone would say that he was “eccentric”; but if I were to do the same thing people would say: “look at that dirty hippie”.
Family values is not about bumper stickers any more than patriotism is about lapel flags
“Americans love to talk about family values. That is to say, they love to express outrage—at Janet Jackson's exposed breast; at a politician's adulterous indiscretions; at the sexual orientation of their children's favorite underwater sponge—and slap a "family values" label on their outrage.
While "family values" makes for a convenient bumper sticker slogan for politicians running on a platform of discrimination, the reality is that our nation's domestic policies demonstrate that, in fact, we don't really value families at all. Those who claim to advocate for family values are far more concerned with narrowly defining what constitutes a family than with promoting policies that support and strengthen existing families. Relatively few governmental programs exist to assist families and those that do are laughably underfunded and restricted, and under constant attack from the very people who feign outrage at faux issues.
We could do this. Other countries around the world that have claimed an interest in helping families have invested resources in effective programs rather than propaganda. From family planning to family leave to subsidized health care and education, there are policies that do work. Unfortunately, our "family values" debate in this country dismisses such policies as socialism and sinfulness. So instead of investing in what works, our resources are diverted to propaganda that doesn't.
But it doesn't have to be that way.”
SOURCE: http://www.dailykos.com/
