Morally Awake

by digby

Ok, who put the LSD in the DC water system? George Will is making sense. And he even (almost) accurately describes Democratic party values in a way that doesn’t make us sound like a bunch of ninnies:

Conservatives should be wary of the idea that when they talk about, say, tax cuts and limited government — about things other than abortion, gay marriage, religion in the public square and similar issues — they are engaging in values-free discourse. And by ratifying the social conservatives’ monopoly of the label “values voters,” the media are furthering the fiction that these voters are somehow more morally awake than others.

Today’s liberal agenda includes preservation, even expansion, of the welfare state in its current configuration in order to strengthen an egalitarian ethic of common provision. Liberals favor taxes and other measures to produce a more equal distribution of income. They may value equality indiscriminately, but they vote their values.

Among the various flavors of conservatism, there is libertarianism that is wary of government attempts to nurture morality and there is social conservatism that says unless government nurtures morality, liberty will perish. Both kinds of conservatives use their votes to advance what they value.

I would also argue that libertarians who are wary of government attempts to nurture morality can just as easily be Democrats — and I don’t think that Democrats value equality indiscriminately. But other than that, he’s being rather bracingly … fair. And it confuses me. Again, do you think it’s something in the water or are we looking at a Starbucks conspiracy here?

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